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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTEI.:OR 
Franklin K. Lane, Secretary 



United States Geological Survey 

George Otis Smith, Director 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 380 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY 

GEOGRAPHIC AND HYDROGRAPHIC RECONNAISSANCE OF 
PARTS OF ARIZONA, NEW MEXICO, AND UTAH 



BY 



HERBERT E. GREGORY 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1916 



i. 



DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Franklin K. Lane, Secretary 



United States Geological Survey 

George Otis Smith, Director 



Water-Supply Paper 380 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY 

A GEOGRAPHIC AND HYDROGRAPHIC RECONNAISSANCE OF 
PARTS OF ARIZONA, NEW MEXICO, AND UTAH 



BY 



HERBERT E. GREGORY 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1016 






ADDITIONAL COPIES 

OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED FROM 

THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

"WASHINGTON, D. C. 

AT 

80 CENTS PER COPY 



D« Of D. 



to 



-i CONTENTS. 

^. 

^ Page. 

Intkoduction 9 

A personal word 9 

History and scope of investigation 9 

Acknowledgments 10 

Suggestions to travelers 11 

Part I. Geography 13 

Location and extent of the reservations 13 

Note on the map 14 

Historical sketch 15 

Topographic outline 21 

Geographic provinces 22 

Basis of subdivision 22 

Button Plateau 23 

Chaco Plateau 24 

Chuska Valley 24 

Manuelito Plateau 26 

Chuska Mountains 27 

Nomenclature 1 27 

Eastern edge ^ 28 

Western edge 28 

The mountain top _ 29 

Carrizo Mountain 30 

Gothic Mesas 31 

San Juan Valley 31 

Black Creek Valley .. 32 

Defiance Plateau 34 

Chinle and Pueblo Colorado valleys 36 

Hopi Buttes 37 

Tusayan Washes 38 

Moenkopi Plateau 39 

Black Mesa -i --J 40 

Kaibito Plateau 41 

Painted Desert 42 

Shato Plateau 43 

Rainbow Plateau 44 

Navajo Mountain 45 

Segi Mesas 47 

Monument Valley 48 

Climate 49 

General conditions 49 

Precipitation 50 

Records 50 

Geographic distribution 59 

Variation from year to year 60 

Seasonal distribution 61 

Character of rainstorms 63 

Temperature 63 

Wind 67 

3 



CONTENTS. 5 

Paet II. Surface waters — Continued. 

Utilization of streams — Continued. Page. 

Irrigation by storage 107 

General conditions 107 

Government projects . 109 

■ Red Lake L 109 

Reservoir Canyon 109 

Wheatfields reservoir ^ 109 

Ganado reservoir 110 

Projects awaiting development 111 

Leupp reservoir 111 

Additional prospects ' 112 

Quartzite Canyon : 112 

Buell Park 112 

Lokasakad 112 

Marsh Pass region 112 

Segihatsosi 112 

Miscellaneous 113 

Storage of surface water for stock 113 

Essential conditions 113 

Small reservoirs or tanks 114 

Sites 114 

Dams . ■ 114 

Wasteways 116 

Water power . 116 

Lakes .. 116 

Lakes of the Chuska Mountains " 116 

Tolani lakes -117 

Lakes formed by drifting sand 117 

Ephemeral lakes 118 

Other lakes 118 

Utilization of lakes 118 

Water holes in the washes 119 

Direct utilization of rainfall 119 

General conditions 119 

Water catches : 120 

Paet III. Ground water 123 

Source of the ground water 123 

Ground-water reservoir 124 

Nature of the reservoir 124 

Capacity of the reservoir 125 

Variation in porosity 125 

Bedrock 125 

Unconsolidated deposits 126 

Method of filling the ground-water reservoir 126 

Directly from the rainfall 126 

Percolation from stream channels 127 

Percolation from flood waters 127 

Depletion of the reservoir 127 

Processes of depletion 127 

Evaporation from the ground 129 

Evaporation of springs and seeps 129 

The water table 129 

Quality of ground water 131 

Artesian water 131 



6 CONTENTS. 

Paet III. Ground water — Continued. Page. 

Springs 132 

Distribution and character 132 

Springs in unconsolidated .deposits 133 

General relations 133 

Methods of improvement 134 

Springs between alluvium and bedrock 136 

General relations 136 

Method of development 136 

Springs between rock strata ^ 137 

General relations 137 

Springs of the Hopi Buttes province 139 

Springs of Chuska Mountain 140 

Methods of improvement 141 

Springs within a stratum 142 

Fault springs - — 143 

Springs of the Tuba district 143 

General relations — 144 

Origin of the springs 144 

Methods of improvement 146 

Spring records 147 

Wells 159 

General conditions 159 

Wells in unconsolidated sediments 160 

Character of the sediments 160 

Location of wells 161 

Wells along the axes of the washes 161 

Wells on alluvial mesas or bench lands 162 

Wells in high valleys 163 

Wells in the Tusayan washes 164 

Construction of wells 166 

The problems 166 

Dug wells 167 

Driven wells 170 

Drilled wells 171 

Wells in bedrock 173 

Artesian wells 176 

Essential conditions 176 

Wells in unconsolidated deposits 177 

Wells in bedrock .. 178 

Fallacies regarding artesian waters 178 

Artesian areas 179 

Determining factors 179 

Upper Chuska Valley 180 

Dutton Plateau and southern Chaco Plateau 180 

Lower Chuska Valley 180 

Upper Chinle Valley 180 

Middle Chinle Valley ^ 180 

Middle Tyende Valley 181 

Monument Valley 182 

Black Mesa 182 

Gothic Mesas 182 

Other areas , 182 

Records of wells 183 

Part IV. Geographic terms 1 189 

Paet V. Bibliography 1 199 

Index 209 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page. 

Plate I. Map of the Navajo country In pocket. 

II. Map of the geology of the Navajo country In pocket. 

III. A, Bennett Peak and vicinity ; typical view in middle Chuska 
Valley ; B, Shiprock and vicinity, typical view in lower Chuska 

Valley 26 

IV. Crest of Washington Pass, Chuska Mountains ; looking east 27 

V. Carrizo Mountain from the east 30 

VI. A, San Juan Valley at Shiprock; B, San Juan Canyon 3 miles 

below Goodridge, Utah 31 

VII. San Juan Valley at Bluff, Utah, looking south 32 

VIII. A, Defiance monocline at head of lower Black Creek canyon; 
B, Red Lake, Black Creek Valley, looking southeast toward 

Zilditloi Mountain . 33 

IX. A, North wall of Canyon de Chelly between Canyon del Muerto 
and Monument Canyon ; B, Cliff house in Canyon de Chelly 

at junction with Canyon 'del Muerto ^ 36 

X. A, Pueblo Colorado Wash below Twin Mesas ; B, Volcanic necks 

at west edge of Hopi Buttes, on Chandler's ranch 37 

XI. A, Coal Mine Canyon, at north edge of Moenkopi Plateau; B, 
Effects of wind erosion, Kaibito Plateau ; C, Dune and wind- 
scoured floor, Kaibito Plateau 40 

XII. Grand Falls, Little Colorado River 41 

XIII. A, Rainbow Bridge, Bridge Canyon; B, Vegetation at Nasja 

(Owl) Bridge, on the north slope of Navajo Mountain 46 

XIV. A, Comb monocline, east of Marsh Pass ; B, Keet Seel cliff ruin, 

in branch of Laguna Canyon 47 

XV. A, Mitten Butte, Monument Valley ; B, Agathla, a volcanic neck, 

Monument Valley . 48 

XVI. Diagram showing distribution of daily rainfall in the Navajo 

country : 62 

XVII. A, Wind-swept rocks. Rainbow Plateau, north of Navajo Moun- 

' tain ; B, West slope of Defiance Plateau 68 

XVIII. A, Piute Canyon at upper crossing ; B, Typical view in zone of 

pinon and cedar, 6,000 feet above sea level 69 

XIX. Forest map of Navajo Reservation . 74 

XX. Walpi, a Hopi pueblo 76 

XXI. Generalized section of formations represented in the Navajo 

country 78 

XXII. Structure sections across the Navajo country .' 80 

XXIII. A, Rock covered by thin soil in forest of Defiance Plateau; B, 

Navajo cornfield 100 

XXIV. A, Laguna Canyon, showing recent trenching ; B, Reservoir 

Canyon, Tuba, Ariz., in process of filling by wind-blown sand- 101 

7 



8 ILLUSTEATIONS. 

Plate XXV. A, Little Colorado River at Tanner Crossing after heavy 

showers ; B, Red Lake reservoir, looking south toward Page, 
outlet 110 

XXVI. A, Outlet of Buell Park, looking downstream ; B, Springs at 

St. Michaels , 111 

XXVII. Map of Tuba and vicinity showing distribution of springs 144 

XXVIII. Stereogram illustrating the character and distribution of 
materials filling the larger washes of the Navajo country 

and favorable locations for wells 160 

XXIX. Sections showing conditions favorable for artesian wells 180 

Figure 1. Map showing location of area considered in this report 14 

2. Diagrams showing monthly distribution of rainfall in the Nav- 

ajo country 61 

3. Diagram showing seasonal distribution of rainfall in the Nav- 

ajo country 62 

4. Map and section illustrating features of the Black Falls project- 106 

5. Map of Ganado irrigation project 110 

6. Map of proposed irrigation works at Leupp, Ariz 111 

7. Diagram of water catch with cistern excavated in rock 120 

8. Diagram of water catch with cistern excavated in alluvium at 

base of a slope 121 

9. Diagram of water catch constructed in rock on top of a mesa_ 122 

10. Diagram showing distribution of ground water and the posi- 

tion of the water table 124 

11. Diagram illustrating method of constructing a kariz 135 

12. Diagram illustrating the conditions producing the springs in 

the Hopi Buttes region 139 

13. Map of a part of the Hopi Buttes province, showing the dis- 

tribution of lava and sedimentary rock with reference to the 
position of springs . 140 

14. Diagram illustrating the conditions producing springs on the 

east flank of Chuska Mountain 141 

15. Diagram illustrating method of combining several small scat- 

tered flows from rock 141 

16. Map of Echo Cliffs between Lyon ranch and Willow Springs, 

showing distribution of springs 145 

IT. Section across Kaibito Plateau, illustrating the conditions 

which determined the distribution of springs at Tuba__ 146 

18. Sections of wells in unconsolidated deposits, Tusayan Washes- 164 

19. Section of a wash showing location of shallow dug wells 167 

20. Diagram illustrating method of constructing a well in the 

mouth of a rock canyon filled with coarse alluvium 169 

21. Section illustrating method of obtaining water from the satu- 

rated rocks and unconsolidated deposits beneath a wash 169 

22. Diagram showing method of recovering ground water from 

underflow in Chinle Wash 170 

23. Homemade horsepower pump . 172 

24. Section of well in Chinle Valley 175 

25. Sections of well in rock at Keams Canyon 176 

26. Diagram illustrating occurrence of artesian water at St. 

Michaels, Ariz 177 

27. Diagram illustrating occurrence of artesian water at Gallup. 

N. Mex 177 

28. Well sections, Chaco Plateau 181 

29. Sections of flowing wells at Bluff, Utah 183 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

A GEOGRAPHIC AND HYDROGRAPHIC RECONNAISSANCE OF PARTS 
OF ARIZONA, NEW MEXICO, AND UTAH. 



By Herbert E. Gregory. 



INTRODUCTION. 

A PERSONAL WORD. 

To my mind the period of direct contact with nature is the true 
" heroic age " of human history, an age in which heroic accomplish- 
ment and heroic endurance are parts of the daily routine. The 
activities of people on this stage of progress deserve a place among 
the cherished traditions of the human race. I believe also that the 
sanest missionary effort includes an endeavor to assist the uncivilized 
man in his adjustment to natural laws. With these ideas in mind 
the opportunity to conduct exploratory work in the Navajo country 
appealed to me with peculiar force. Within this little-known re- 
gion are the remnants of an almost extinct race whose long occupa- 
tion of the country is recorded in ruined dwellings and abandoned 
fields. This country is also the home of the vigorous and promising 
Navajos — a tribe in remarkably close adjustment to their physical 
surroundings. To improve the condition of this long-neglected 
but capable race, to render their life more intelligently wholesome 
by applying scientific knowledge, gives pleasure in no degree less 
than that obtained by the study of the interesting geologic problems 
which this country affords. 

HISTORY AND SCOPE OE INVESTIGATION. 

The work on which the present report is based was begun in 
1909 at the request of the United States Office of Indian Affairs. 
In May of that year, in company with M. E. Campbell and W. C. 
Mendenhall, of the United States Geological Survey, and under the 
intelligent guidance of H. F. Eobinson, irrigation engineer of the 
Indian Office, I made a rapid trip to points in the southern portion 
of the Navajo and Hopi reservations, including Leupp, Tuba, the 
Hopi villages, Keams Canyon, Ganado, Chinle, and Fort Defiance, 
Ariz. Field work was continued until late in September. 

9 



10 THE KAVAJO COUNTKY 

The working season of 1910 was reduced to three weeks on account 
of illness contracted in the field. During the summer of 1911 work 
was confined to the southern and eastern portions of the reservations 
in Arizona and New Mexico. The particular problem for 1913 was 
an examination of the region along Little Colorado Eiver, but studies 
were made also in the area adjoining Navajo Mountain and along 
the Santa Fe Eailway. A detailed study of Carrizo Mountain was 
made during this year by my assistant, W. B. Emery. From time 
to time reports have been submitted to the Indian Office on various 
phases of the work, including irrigation projects, well construction, 
and sites for schools and for hospitals. These reports are of such a 
nature as not to find place in printed public documents and are 
therefore not included in the present paper. 

With the time at our disposal the field work was necessarily recon- 
naissance because of the large area to be covered, the great diversity 
of topographic and geologic features, and the difficulties presented 
by scarcity of water and of forage. Moreover the literature covering 
this area relates chiefly to archeologic details of a few accessible 
places, and oral information obtained from the few men who know 
the region through personal experience was so fragmentary and con- 
tradictory that a large part of our work was essentially exploratory. 

The future of the Navajo country depends fundamentally on the 
solution of one problem — ^the water supply — and therefore both re- 
connaissance and detailed work were designed to procure data bear- 
ing on this problem. The geography of the region was also studied, 
with a view to preparing a description of this little-known part of 
the United States — an account designed to facilitate the work of 
those wdio are to supplement our preliminary examination by de- 
tailed studies. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 

In a region which has previously been unexplored and in which the 
Indians are none too cordial the successful prosecution of field work 
is to a large degree dependent on the assistance rendered by Gov- 
ernment authorities and the few local men who are acquainted with 
the country and its uncivilized inhabitants. In this connection it is 
a pleasure to acknowledge the hearty cooperation of officials of the 
Indian Office, both in Washington and in the field. In particular 
the friendship and assistance of Peter Paquette, superintendent of 
the Navajo Eeservation, and of H. F. Robinson, superintendent of 
irrigation, has substantially increased the value of our studies. To 
the fact that Mr. Paquette, Mr. Hubbell, one of the Indian traders, 
and Father Weber, a Franciscan priest, believed in our work and 
explained our mission to the Navajos is due the friendly attitude of 
the Indians, which was very evident, especially after the first season. 
The loyalty and efficiency of my scientific assistants, J. E. Pogue, 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

W. B. Emery, and especially K. C. Heald, all of whom unflinchingly 
endured the hardships and uncertainties of desert travel over little- 
known trails, is recorded with peculiar gratitude. The devotion of 
our Navajo assistants, Grover Cleveland, Eugene Sosi, Denet Bahe, 
and John Sheen, added much to our comfort and at times saved us 
from disagreeable experiences if not from disaster. The Indian 
traders, particularly the Hubbells, Wetherill & Colville, Mr. Pres- 
ton, and the Mannings, greatly facilitated our work by helpful ad- 
vice and by direct financial assistance. The store of linguistic knowl- 
edge accumulated by the Franciscan fathers was freely placed at our 
disposal, as were also the results of their studies of the conditions 
and needs of the Navajos. Acknowledgment is thankfully made of 
the assistance given by the fathers in regard to the spelling and in- 
terpretation of Navajo place names used in this paper. 

SUGGESTIONS TO TRAVELERS. 

The following information, acquired by personal experience, may 
be found helpful for those who desire to leave the main traveled 
roads in this region. 

The Navajo is vigorous, intelligent, and capable of hard work if 
it is not too continuous. He will render assistance for pay, fre- 
quently for friendship, and is loyal and cheerful when fairly treated. 
He is, however, independent, and will desert with scant ceremony 
when unjustly treated. He will help himself to interesting trinkets 
and to food but may be trusted with valuable things and with 
important missions. He is a past master at driving a bargain. He 
is an expert horseman but knows little of harness, wagons, and pack 
outfits. His knowledge of distances and of directions is of such 
nature as to be of little use to a white man. It is essential to suc- 
cess that the Navajo should understand and approve of you and 
of your mission, and therefore frankness should characterize all 
dealings with him. A Navajo, preferably a school boy recommended 
by a superintendent, should be a member of each party, -not only to 
serve as guide and interpreter but to obtain advance information 
regarding water and forage and to establish friendly relations with 
those Indians who have slight acquaintance with the whites. 

The Hopi is indifferent toward you and your mission. He offers 
no aid, and yet rarely refuses to lend assistance when called upon. 
He looks after his own affairs with intelligence and devotion but 
takes little interest in yours. His chief desire is to be let alone. 
The Piute, in my opinion, is less trustworthy and less skillful than 
his Navajo and Hopi neighbors. 

The prevalent Indian diseases are tuberculosis and trachoma, a 
fact which should be kept in mind when hospitality is extended or 
accepted. 



12 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

The Indian schools of Fort Defiance, Keams Canyon, Crown Point, 
Leupp, Tuba, and Shiprock are connected with the railroads by 
roads which, judged by pioneer standards, may be classed as good. 
The better-known features of interest. Canyon de Chelly and the 
Hopi villages, are also accessible by wagon. " Roads," in the local 
sense — that is, routes over which a staunchly built, lightly loaded 
wagon drawn by two, four, or more horses may be taken by skillful 
drivers — may be found here and there, especially in the southern 
and eastern parts of the reservations. The land of the Navajos is, 
however, preeminently a " horseback country," and a pack train is 
the only type of outfit which offers freedom of movement. Quick- 
sand is to be expected in all stream channels and in the beds of 
" dry lakes," and crossings should be tested before wagons or pack 
trains are intrusted to them. Owing to sudden rises of water, 
streams and dry washes should be crossed at the earliest favorable 
opportunity, and camp should never be pitched on the floor of even 
the most innocent looking dry stream bed or adobe flat. 

Suitable outfits and guides for scientific exploration and tourist travel 
may be obtained from Wetherill & Colville, at Tyende, and under 
certain circumstances from J. L. Hubbell, at Ganado. Unless, how- 
ever, arrangements have been previously made, equipment should 
be procured at Gallup, Holbrook, Winslow, Flagstaff, Farmington, 
or other points on the railway. 

The location of camps is necessarily controlled by the distribution 
of water, and the traveler should have reliable information regarding 
water holes and springs for the particular month during which he 
proposes to make his expedition. Grain for horses should be pro- 
vided, as very few places afford the essentials of camp — ^water, wood, 
and forage — and barren zones surround most of the water supplies. 
Not all stores carry grain, and inquiries as to the amount available 
should be made beforehand. Fuel is lacking at many camp sites 
or is limited to yucca, grass, and annuals. Under such circum- 
stances the abandoned "hogans" appear tempting; but some of these 
deserted huts have housed dying persons, and are therefore taboo, 
and their use may lead to trouble. The traveler should never leave 
camp without a supply of water and should keep in mind the 
deceptive character of mirages. The danger from lightning may 
be minimized by avoiding the shelter of trees during the thunder- 
storms that almost invariably accompany summer rains. 

Reliable information may be obtained from the officials at the 
various Government schools and from thos^ traders and missionaries 
who have been long in contact with the Navajos. 



Part I. GEOGRAPHY. 

LOCATION AND EXTENT OF RESERVATIONS. 

The Navajo and Hopi Indian reservations, though officially dis- 
tinct, are treated as a unit in this report. They lie approximately 
between parallels 35° 10' and 37° 17' and meridians 108° 15' and 
111° 45'. (See PL I, in pocket.) The lands reserved for the Indians 
embrace parts of Coconino, Navajo, and Apache counties, in Ari- 
zona; parts of McKinley and San Juan counties, in New Mexico; 
and the southern part of San Juan County, Utah. For purposes 
of administration the Indian lands are divided into reservations— 
the Pueblo Bonito, San Juan, Navajo, Navajo Extension, Western 
Navajo, and Hopi — each in charge of a superintendent or agent. 
The area of the reservations is 14,333,354 acres, or about 22,400 square 
miles, an area larger than Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachu- 
setts, and New Hampshire combined. The distance across the res- 
ervations in an east- west line from Crow^n Point, N. Mex., to Black 
Falls, on the Little Colorado in Arizona, is about 190 miles, and 
from Bluff, Utah, southward to Chambers, on the Santa Fe Rail- 
way, is approximately 140 miles. Administrative centers are 
reached from the railway as follows: Pueblo Bonito (Crown Point), 
from Thoreau, N. Mex., 29 miles; Fort Defiance, from Gallup, N. 
Mex., 35 miles; Keams Canyon, from Gallup, N. Mex,, 107 miles^ 
or from Plolbrook, Ariz., 65 miles; Leupp, from Canyon Diablo, 
Ariz., 12 miles; Tuba, from Flagstaff, Ariz., 90 miles; Shiprock, 
from* Farmington, N. Mex., 35 miles. The Chinle School is 95 miles 
from the railway, and the most remote point to which mail is reg- 
ularly carried is Tyende, 165 miles from the nearest railway sta- 
tion. The northwestern part of the Western Navajo Reservation, 
beyond the farthest outpost, is singularly inaccessible. 

The roads leading from New Mexico and Arizona settlements 
to the chief points within the reservations, though rough, are feas- 
ible for wagons. Roads have also been established along selected 
routes to reach newly established schools and trading posts and 
important centers of Indian population. The larger part of the 
reservations is, however, accessible only by trails, and in the rougher 
areas no recognized routes of travel are to be found. Saddle horse 
and pack train capable of making long day's marches are neces- 
sary for the prosecution of geographic or geologic field work. 

13 



14 



THE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 



NOTE ON THE MAP. 

The area described in this report includes not only the Navajo and 
Hopi reservations as officially limited but also four adjacent areas: 
One extending eastward in New Mexico from the reservation line 
to the 108th meridian; one bordering the Santa Fe Kailway; one 
along the lower part of San Juan River ; and a small area near the 
mouth of the Little Colorado. (See fig. 1.) These strips, though 




Figure 1. — Map showing location of area considered in this report, 

not specifically set aside for the Indians, are in part allotted to 
them and in still larger part utilized by them, and the district cov- 
ered by the map, bounded by San Juan, Colorado, Little Colorado, 
Puerco, and San Jose rivers and the 108th meridian, has long been 
known as the " Navajo country." That term is used in this report 
to cover the entire area represented by the map. As thus outlined the 
Navajo country contains 25,725 square miles — an area that is larger 
than the State of West Virginia and that constitutes the most exten- 
sive tract of undeveloped reservation land within the United States. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 15 

The following reconnaissance maps, made by the United States 
Geological Survey in 1882-1886, were used as the base for the present 
map : Echo Cliffs, Marsh Pass, Canyon de Chelly, San Francisco 
Mountain, Tusayan, Fort Defiance, Holbrook, and St. Johns, Ariz. ; 
Escalante, Henry Mountains, and Aba jo, Utah; Chaco and Wingate, 
N. Mex. Manuscript maps made for the War Department and for 
the Ofiice of Indian Affairs have been consulted, as well as pub- 
lished maps from other sources. In so far as the map differs from 
those previously published it embodies the results of my four seasons' 
field work. Since the publication of maps made by the Survey this 
region has undergone many changes, and an effort has been made to 
record those brought about by man and also to represent with a 
greater degree of accuracy the position and character of surface and 
ground water supplies. Many new names have been added to the 
map, and in selecting them the following rules were adopted: Use 
all names found on older maps and in the writings of earlier ex- 
plorers, so far as such names have been applied to features whose 
position has been determined; Navajo and Hopi terms so far as they 
have definite application; terms in common use by Mexicans and 
white men; and terms that have been applied by archeologists who 
have written of the Navajo country. In the spelling of Indian names 
care has been taken to approach as nearly as possible the native 
pronunciation without introducing needless complications; for 
Spanish terms the ordinary rules of that language have been fol- 
lowed. To facilitate description it has been found advisable to 
outline and name a number of geographic provinces and many 
prominent topographic features. For such names descriptive terms 
have been used, and also names of early explorers and of other 
men who have been connected in some fundamental way with the 
history of the Navajo country. Detailed information regarding 
geographic terms and their application will be found in Part IV 
(pp. 199-208). 

It is too much to hope that the map (PI. I, in pocket) as presented 
has a high degree of accuracy, but I believe that it will be found 
useful by those whose interests call them to this fascinating region. 

HISTORICAL SKETCH. 

After the occupation of central Mexico by the Spanish in 1514, 
exploring parties were sent northward toward the Kio Grande and 
the Gila. The first of these expeditions, under Nino de Guzman 
(1530), succumbed to the hardships of travel on the arid plateau 
without reaching the present Mexican border. When Alvar Nunez 
Cabeza de Vaca arrived at Mexico City after his six years' memor- 
able wanderings along the Gulf coast through Texas and southern 
New Mexico, bearing reports of gold and silver, turquoise and emer- 



16 THE ITAVAJO COUNTRY. 

aids, elaborate plans for exploration were earnestly considered.^ 
But though the lure of sudden wealth aroused the enthusiasm of 
officials and soldiers alike, the saner minds hesitated to weaken their 
hold on Mexico by dispatching large bodies of soldiers into unknown 
desert regions occupied by hostile tribes. At this crisis the church 
stepped in. Marcos de Niza, a Franciscan friar, obtained permission 
to depart on the long journey to the north with the hope of enrolling 
an unknown people under the banner of the church. Accompanied 
by three other priests, the Barbary negro Estevanico, and a small 
body of soldiers, Fray Marcos reached Zuni by way of Sonora and 
western Arizona. A careful reading of Fray Marcos's diary gives 
little basis for the cupidity excited by his narrative, but to minds 
already warped by lust of gold and conquest the picturesque de- 
scriptions of the Indian spokesmen became literal accounts of fact, 
and plans were made to conquer and convert this marvelous country 
of wealthy towns. Thus originated the well-known expedition of 
Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, president of New Spain, who in 
1540 organized a well-equipped band of soldiers, priests, and 
wealthy adventurers, supported by two ships heavily laden with 
supplies, which were to ascend the Eio de Tizon [Colorado] and 
await the expedition near the thirty-sixth degree of latitude.^ 
After innumerable hardships and discouragements the remnant 
of this cavalcade, spurred on by the imaginary tales of Friar Mar- 
cos, reached Cibola [Zuni], only to recoil in disgust at finding a 
group of squalid houses perched high on a rock mesa. In the words 
of the faithful historian of the expedition, Pedro de Castaiieda de 
Nagera : " The army broke forth with maledictions on Friar Marcos 
de Niza ; God grant that he may feel none of them ! " ^ From Zuni 
expeditions were sent out in various directions, two of them into 
the region now known as the Navajo and Hopi reservations. The 
first expedition (1540), under Friar Juan de Padilla and Don 
Pedro de Tovar, discovered the Province of Tusayan, consisting of 
seven villages similar to Zuni, and gave the civilized world its first 
knowledge of the unique group of Hopi clans. It is interesting to 
note that among the presents made to the conquerors were tanned 
skins, pinon nuts, native fowl, turquoises, corn, and cotton cloth. 
The information gained at Tusayan was used in equipping a second 
expedition, under Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas, which was sent 

1 The journal of Alvar Nftiiez Cabeza de Vaca, 1528-1536, translated by Fanny Bande- 
lier, edited by A. F. Bandelier, A. S. Barnes & Co., 1905. 

- The most accessible English edition of the original Spanish reports, by Coronado and 
his followers is " The journey of Coronado, 1540-1542, translated and edited by George 
Parker Winship,"' A. S. Barnes & Co., 1904. See also Hodge, F. W., Narrative of Corona- 
do's expedition by Castaiieda : Spanish explorers in the southern United States, pp. 
275-287, Scribner's, New York, 1907. 

3 The story of Coronado's expedition as written by Castaueda is the most direct and 
trustworthy of all documents relating to this period of Spanish exploration. (See p. 208.) 



HISTOBICAL SKETCH. 17 

out to the northwest, probably along the ancient Hopi trail. After 
20 days' marching through desert lands this party came to a great 
river whose banks extended " three or four leagues into the air " and 
were "1)roken into pinnacles higher than the tower of the Cathedral 
of Seville." Because of its red, muddy waters, this stream was 
christened Rio Colorado. There can be little doubt that Cardenas 
was the first white man to see the Grand Canyon, but his exact view- 
point probably will never be known, for the recorded description is 
applicable to almost every cliff face between the mouth of Grand 
Wash and the head of Marble Canyon. The time consumed by 
Cardenas in making this journey was ample to reach any point on 
the canyon rim. Without further attempts to explore the country 
north of the present Santa Fe Railway line, Coronado's party passed 
eastward through Acoma, Laguna, and the pueblos along the Tiguex 
[Rio Grande]. After excursions eastward beyond Santa Fe the 
expeditions, discouraged in mind and diminished in numbers, re- 
turned to New Spain [Mexico] over the route by which they had 
entered the country. 

After the lapse of more than 200 years, interspersed with desultory 
missionary and trading enterprises, the Hopi region was again 
visited by devoted scouts of the church. In 1776 Fray Garces,^ 
whose name is inseparably linked with missionary enterprises in the 
Gila and San Gabriel valleys, arrived at Tusayan [Hopi villages], 
where he spent several weeks before starting on the return journey 
to Yuma. During this same year (1776) Hernando d'Escalante 
Fontafieda, a zealous priest, made his memorable journey from Santa 
Fe through southwestern Colorado and eastern Utah, returning to 
the Spanish settlements across the present Western Navajo Reserva- 
tion to Hopi and Zuni. Tradition states that Escalante crossed the 
Glen Canyon section of the Colorado at a point designated on the 
map as the " Crossing of the Fathers." If this is true, Escalante 
should be credited with the most daring adventure of all the early 
explorers, for this route presents formidable difficulties. As is to be 
expected, the diaries and letters of these early Spanish fathers con- 
tain meager information regarding the country and its people, ex- 
cept in matters relating to religious enterprises. 

The century following the exploits of Garces and Escalante has 
left little recorded history of Spanish missionary activity among 
the Hopis and Navajos. Travel and study were, however, continued 
by the priests, and accounts of more or less scientific value have ap- 
peared from time to time. In 1860 the results of seven years' travels 
and studies in the Southwest were published in a two-volume work 

1 Coues, Elliott, On the trail of a Spanish pioneer — The diary of Francisco Garces, 1768- 
1776, 2 vols., 1900. 

33033''— wsp 380— 16 2 



18 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

by Abbe Domenech. Though cluttered with far-fetched philosophic 
and archeologic theories, this book has value as an attempt to inter- 
pret Navajo and Pueblo customs and industries in the light of 
physical environment. Fauna, flora, and water supply are discussed 
in detail, and a description of Little Colorado Eiver from its source 
to Tanner Crossing is given for the first time. The best traditions 
of the Roman Catholic Church are maintained by the Franciscan 
fathers at St. Michaels, from whose press have come two notable 
publications.^ 

The barrenness of the country, combined with the hostility of the 
Indians, has sufficed to make northeastern Arizona an unprofitable 
field for trapper and prospector, and the influence of these pioneers, 
who have played so prominent a part in other regions of the West, 
has left little trace on the history of the Navajo country. 

Much geographic material was collected by the numerous military 
expeditions directed against the Navajos between the years 1845 and 
1860, but nearly all of it remains unpublished. In a report of Capt. 
Doniphan's expedition ^ may be found the first recorded descrip- 
tions of Tchensca [Chuska] Mountains, the Canyon El Challe [de 
Chelly], and Laguna Colorada [Red Lake] north of the present Fort 
Defiance. In 1850 Simpson's report of an expedition into the Navajo 
country was issued by the Government.^ I have followed Simpson's 
route through Washington Pass, along the Sierra de Tumecha 
[Tunitcha Mountain] and Chuska Mountain, along the Canyon de 
Chelly, past the present Fort Defiance to Puerco River, and found 
little to add to the descriptions of topography, fauna, flora, and 
climate. 

Influenced by the creation of the Territories of New Mexico and 
of Arizona by congressional enactment in 1850 and 1863, respec- 
tively, and by the increasing importance of California, the demand 
for suitable wagon roads and for a railroad through the Southwest 
became insistent. The most feasible location for a transcontinental 
line was by no means evident, and many topographic surveying par- 
ties under military escort were sent into the region embracing Colo- 
rado, Utah, Nevada, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. 
During the years 1851 and 1852 Capt. Sitgreaves,* with Lieut. Parks, 
topographer, and Dr. S. W. Woodhouse, naturalist, under the guid- 
ance of Antoine Leroux, mapped a route from Zuni along Zuni 
River, down the Little Colorado to Gi^nd Falls, and thence west- 
ward through the San Francisco: Mountains to Colorado River 
above the mouth of the Mohave. 

1 An ethnologic dictionary of the Navajo language, 1910. A vocabulary of the Navajo 
language, vol. 1, English-Navajo ; vol. 2, Navajo-English, 1912. 

2 Hughes, J. T., Doniphan's expedition, 1847. 

3 31st Cong., 1st sess., Ex. Doc. 64, pp. 55-168, plates and maps appended, 1850. 

* Report of an expedition down the Zuni and Colorado rivers : 32d Cong., 2d sess., Ex. 
Doc. 59, 1854. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 19 

The 12 large volumes of the report on the Whipple expedition^ 
contain the results of one of the most elaborate field reconnaissances 
ever undertaken by the Government. The geographic descriptions 
of the southern edge of the Navajo Keservation are unusually com- 
plete. The rail route recommended by Whipple extends from Albu- 
querque, N. Mex., through Laguna, over the Continental Divide at 
Campbell Pass, down the Puerco to the Little Colorado, and across 
the Little Colorado to Flagstaff, Ariz., and westward. Along this 
line the Atlantic & Pacific Eailroad, now the Atchison, Topeka & 
Santa Fe, was constructed in 1883. A geologic map of the route 
and a chapter on the geology by Jules Marcou ^ constitute the first 
geologic studies of any part of the Navajo country. 

Unlike the other exploratory expeditions which were sent into 
Arizona from the east, the party commanded by Lieut. Ives 
(1857-58)^ ascended Colorado Eiver in boats as far as possible. 
Leaving the river at Diamond Creek, Lieut. Ives, with J. S. New- 
berry, geologist; F. F. W. von Egloffstein, topographer; and H. B. 
MoUhausen, artist, traveled eastward to the Rio de Liiio [Little 
Colorado] , below the present site of Winslow, and thence proceeded to 
Oraibi and eastward along the well-marked trail to Pueblo Colorado 
[Ganado] , and Fort Defiance. Newberry's comments on the geology 
of the route traversed, together with the geologic map of a strip 
from Oraibi to Fort Defiance, call attention for the first time to the 
presence of widely extended Cretaceous and Triassic sediments in 
the Navajo country and to the salient features of the Defiance 
monocline. 

Newberry also served as geologist to the Macomb expedition 
(1859) into Colorado and Utah, which on its return followed San 
Juan River from a point near the present site of Bluff, Utah, to 
Canyon Largo. In the map, text, and sections published in the 
Macomb report the areal extent of the Mesozoic formations is out- 
lined. The fossils collected were described and figured by Meek 
and Newberry. Though the scientists of the Macomb expedition 
confined their w^ork to the north bank of the San Juan, beyond 
the area covered by the present report, the map published contains 
all available topographic data and records the first attempt to rep- 
resent the entire area now occupied by the Navajo Reservation.* 

1 Whipple, A. W., Report of explorations and surveys to ascertain the most practical and 
economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the ocean, 1853-54, Wash- 
ington, 1856. 

2 Resume of a geological reconnaissance from the junction of the Arkansas with the 
Mississippi to the Pueblo of Los Angeles in California: Whipple's report (cited above), 
vol. 3, pt. 4 ; published also in Geology of North America, Zurich, 1858. 

3 Ives, J. C, Report upon the Colorado River of the West : 35th Cong., 1st sess., Ex. 
Doc, 1858. 

* Newberry, J. S., Geological report of an exploring expedition from Santa Fe, N. Mex., 
to the junction of the Grand and Green rivers of the Great Colorado of the West in 1859, 
under the command of Capt J. N. Macomb, 148 pp., 11 pis., Washington, 1876. 



20 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

The loosely written account of an expedition conducted by Beale* 
down Black Creek and the Puerco to the Little Colorado and beyond 
is interesting chiefly because of its statement that camels were used 
as pack animals and found to be entirely satisfactory. 

The geologists of the Wheeler Survey^ visited the southern and 
western portions of the Navajo country, Marvine and Howell de- 
scribed the route along the Little Colorado Valley, chiefly with 
reference to the geology. The traverse of Howell from the Little 
Colorado to Fort Defiance by way of the Hopi villages added strati- 
graphic and structural details " to the account of Newberry, who 
followed essentially the same route. The investigations of Oscar 
Loew,^ mineralogist and chemist of the Wheeler Survey, dealing 
with conditions affecting grazing, water supply, and fuel, though 
limited in scope, are of direct geographic value. 

A reconnaissance map of the Carrizo Mountains was made in 1875 
by Holmes,* who included in his report one of those unique pano- 
ramic sketches for which he is famous. 

Two reports by Dutton relate to portions of the Navajo Reserva- 
tion. The well-known volume on the Grand Canyon ° includes a 
map of the Permian, Triassic, and Jurassic strata along Echo Cliffs ; 
and the report on the Zuni Mountains*^ contains an account of the 
scenery and geology of Dutton Plateau and locates the Tertiary and 
igneous deposits of Chuska Mountain. 

The results of recent geologic expeditions along the borders of 
the Navajo Reservation have been issued by the United States Geo- 
logical Survey. The studies of Ward'' in 1899 and 1901, in the 
Little Colorado Valley, resulted in a stratigraphic table in which, 
for the first time, the terms Moencopie, Lithodendron, and Leroux 
are introduced. The reconnaissance traverses of Schrader^ and of 
Shaler^ in northwestern New Mexico revealed the presence of an 
extensive coal field, which has been examined more fully by 
Gardner.^^ 

1 Beale, E. F., Surveys for a wagon road from Fort Defiance to the Colorado River : 
85th Cong., 1st sess., House Ex. Doc. 124, 1858, 

2 Wheeler, G. M., U. S. Geog. and Geol. Expl. W. 100th Mer. Kept., vol. 3, Geology, 1873. 

3 Idem, pt. 6. 

* Holmes, W. H., Geological report on the San Juan district : U. S. Geol. and Geog. Sur- 
\?ey Terr., Ninth Ann. Kept, (for 1875), pp. 237-276, pis. 34^9, 1877. 

c Dutton, C. E., Tertiary history of the Grand Canyon district : U. S. Geol. Survey 
Mon. 2, 1882. 

« Dutton, C. E., Mount Taylor and the Zuni Plateau : TJ. S. Geol. Survey Sixth Ann. 
Rept, pp. r05-198, 1885. 

7 Ward, L. F., Status of the Mesozoic floras of the United States : TJ. S. Geol. Survey 
Mon. 48, pp. 37-41, 1905. 

8 Schi-ader, F. C, The Durango-Gallup coal field of Colorado and New Mexico : TJ. S. 
Geol. Survey Bull. 285, pp. 241-258, 1906. 

» Shaler, M. K., A reconnaissance of the western part of the Durango-Gallup coal field 
of Colorado and New Mexico : U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 316, pp. 375-426, 1907. 

" Gardner, J. H., The coal field between Gallup and San Mateo, N. Mex. : U. S. Geol. 
Survey Bull. 341, pp. 304-378, 1909. 



TOPOGRAPHIC OUTLINE. 21 

It will be noted that the geologic studies in northeastern Arizona, 
northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah have been con- 
fined heretofore to the borders of the Navajo and Hopi reservations, 
except for the traverses of Newberry and of Howell along the lati- 
tude of Fort Defiance. My own work, designed to cover those por- 
tions of the Navajo Reservation which had not been previously ex- 
amined by scientific parties, was begun in the spring of 1909. Since 
that date several papers have appeared.^ Barton's reconnaissance 
is of general interest, for it was essentially a reexamination of the 
route traversed by Whipple, Beale, and other explorers and there- 
fore substantially replaces the publications of previous workers 
along the line of the Santa Fe Railway. 

TOPOGRAPHIC OUTLINE. 

In its larger topographic relations the Navajo country is part of 
the Colorado Plateau province, a region of flat-lying or slightly 
tilted rocks cut by canyons and surmounted by mesas and buttes. 
About 32 per cent of the Navajo country lies between 6,000 and 
7,000 feet above sea level, and 10 per cent between 7,000 and 9,000 
feet. Only 156 square miles out of a total of 25,725 square miles 
lies below 4,000 feet, and only 42 square miles exceeds 9,000 feet. 
The extremes of relief are Navajo Mountain, 10,416 feet, and the 
mouth of Little Colorado River, 2,800 feet above sea level. Along 
the line of Bridge Canyon an extreme range in elevation of 7,000 
feet is attained in a distance of 8 miles. Broadly characterized, the 
region is a plateau in which the depth of canyons about equals the 
height of mountains ; in other words, the downward departures from 
a general surface at about 5,500 feet are nearly equal in amount to 
the upward departures. Two of the mountain masses, Carrizo and 
Navajo, are laccolithic in origin and rise domelike above the sur- 
rounding country. Chuska Mountains, Black Mesa, and Segi Mesas 
are essentially mesas slightly modified by folding of strata and are 
bordered by sheer cliffs of commanding proportions. Mesas of the 
second and third order and innumerable buttes, of both igneous and 
sedimentary origin, are characteristic features of the country. Mesa, 
butte, volcanic neck, canyon, wash, repeated indefinitely, are the ele- 
ments of the Navajo landscape. Alcoves, recesses, and miniature 

1 Darton, N. H., A reconnaissance of northwestern New Mexico and northern Arizona : 
U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 435, 1910. 

Campbell, M. R., and Gregory, H. E., The Black Mesa coal field, Ariz. : U. S. Geol. Sur- 
vey Bull. 431, pp. 229-238, 1 pi., 1911. 

Gregory, H. E., The San Juan oil field, San Juan County, Utah : U. S. Geol. Survey 
Bull. 431, pp. 11-25, 1 pi., 1 fig., 1911. 

Woodruff, E. G., Geology of the San Juan oil field, Utah : U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 471, 
pp, 76-104, 2 pis., 1 fig., 1912. 

Gregory, H. E., The Shinarump conglomerate : Am. Jour. Sci., 4th ser., vol. 35, pp. 
424-^38, 1913. 



22 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

erosion forms of great variety and rare beauty stand as ornamental 
carvings on the larger architectural features, and over all is spread 
an unevenly developed sheet of wind-blown sand. 

So numerous and so closely interlaced are the canyons in some portions of 
this singular region that they have displaced all but scattered remnants of the 
original plateau, leaving narrow walls, isolated ridges, and spires so slender 
that they seem to totter upon, their bases, shooting up to an enormous height 
from the vaults below/ 

The main surface slopes of the country descend northward to the 
San Juan and southward to the Puerco and Little Colorado from a 
dividing line extending from Button Plateau to Echo Peaks. Down 
these slopes the surface drainage is carried in broad washes, here 
and there trenched by sharply cut canyons. About 14,000 square 
miles of the area under discussion drains into the San Juan; the 
Little Colorado receives water from about 9,900 square miles; and 
1,880 square miles is directly tributary to the Colorado by way of 
the deep canyons that traverse the Rainbow Plateau. Topographic 
features of all grades show the influence of aridity. The stream 
channels are generally without water, yet enormous accumulations 
of coarse alluvium, the product of floods, are to be seen on all sides. 
In many places bedrock is swept clean by winds; elsewhere it is 
covered with dunes; talus slopes are in general replaced by bare 
rock walls. The desert, however, is a " painted desert." The gray 
tones of many other regions are lacking. In their place are reds 
and browns, blues, and greens, in masses miles in extent, or mingled 
to form the " variegated shales " of the earlier explorers. To those 
unaccustomed to desert lands the Navajo country presents in form 
and color and grouping of topographic features a surprising and 
fascinating variety ; those familiar with arid regions will find here 
erosion features of unusual grandeur and beauty. 

GEOGRAPHIC PROVINCES. 

BASIS OF SUBDIVISION. 

The Navajo country is too large and too diversified an area to be 
treated as a geographic unit. Only in the broadest sense are the 
various parts of the reservations alike, and the discussion of prob- 
lems of water supply will be better understood when local geographic 
conditions are kept in mind. It has therefore been found advisable 
to divide the country into geographic provinces or subprovinces sug- 
gested by topography, vegetation, and other features, which have 
influenced the manner of life of the native population. The prov- 
inces thus outlined, 22 in number, are briefly described on the fol- 
lowing pages. 

1 Ives, J, C, op, cit., p. 6. 



GEOGRAPHIC PROVINCES. 23 

BUTTON PLATEAU.' 

The south face of Dutton PL^teau is a line of recessed cliffs which 
bound the flat-floored valley extending from Bluewater, X. Mex., 
westward across the Continental Divide at Campbell Pass.- This 
border wall of bright-red massiAX sandstone, rising 600 feet above 
a base of purple shales and limestones and continued upward by the 
greenish ^white towers of Xavajo Church, is one of the most admired 
scenic features along the Santa Fe route. Back of the two giant 
steps of Powell Mountain the plateau surface descends gently, open- 
ing up a mesa-dotted valley 3 to 5 miles broad and 50 miles long. 
Xorth of this inner valley the plateau character is again assumed 
for a distance of 10 miles, at which point the northern bounding 
wall of Dutton Plateau may be descended by a series of short steps 
to Chaco Plateau, 600 feet below. From a distance the west border 
of the plateau also appears to rise abruptly, but a nearer view 
reveals foothills and wide canyon floors interrupting the mural 
escarpment. Throughout its extent Dutton Plateau maintains an 
average height of about 7,500 feet. Innumerable detached mesas 
rise above this level, and Powell Mountain and Hosta Butte culmi- 
nate at 8.861 and 8,837 feet, respectively. From selected viewpoints, 
as Hosta Butte and Pyramid Butte, prominent topographic features 
of the surrounding country are revealed in a panorama, mcluding 
the forest-covered Zuni Mountains, the volcanic pile of Mount 
Taylor, the Chaco Plateau stretching northward to the San Juan, 
the white face of Chuska Mountain, and the varied features of the 
Manuelito Plateau on the west. 

Dutton Plateau is drained westward by the Puerco into the Little 
Colorado, and northward to the San Juan through Chaco Canyon 
or along the poorly marked channels of Chuska Valley. The waters 
from about 120 square miles are carried eastward by the San Jose 
into the Eio Grande. Short spring-fed streams are to be found in 
Satan Pass and in several of the canyons that notch the northern 
and northwestern face of the plateau. Four permanent lakes, in- 
cludmg the artificial pond at Smith Store, and a number of ephemeral 
water bodies supplement the water supply obtained from 15 or 
20 springs. Some of the springs rise from Mancos shale, and 
their waters are unpleasant to taste but not unwholesome. Pinon 
and jimiper, with scattering yellow pines, are interspersed with sage 
and greasewood on the lower slopes, and on the higher mesas form 
continuous forests which are interrupted by grass-floored parks. 

1 Named in memory of Capt. Clarence E. Dutton, whose report on Mount Taylor and the 
Zuni Plateau (TJ. S. Geol. Survey Sixth Ann. Rept., pp. 105-198. 1885) includes the first 
interpretation of the geology of this plateau. 

" Named in honor of its discoverer, A. H. Campbell, topographer of Whipple's expedition, 
1853-54. 



24 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

Grass covers the plateau in sufficient amount to provide grazing for 
many sheep, and the water from various sources suffices to enable 
the Indians to use the forage, even during the dry season. Soil 
weathered from Cretaceous shales and sandstones has accumulated 
on the flatter slopes and valley bottoms and readily responds to agri- 
cultural treatment. Many small Navajo cornfields were noted. Un- 
developed coal beds are widely distributed over the plateau. 

Trading posts at Smith Lake, Dalton, Navajo Church, and two 
other points on the plateau, together with stores along the railroad, 
supply the simple needs of the Indian. Crown Point, reached from 
Thoreau by way of San Antonio Spring and picturesque Satan Pass, 
is the administrative center for the Pueblo Bonito Keservation, and 
is provided with school, hospital, and stores. 

CHACO PLATEAU. 

From the base of the north wall of Button Plateau the Chaco Pla- 
teau extends northward to San Juan Eiver. Westward it descends by 
low, broad steps to Chuska Valley, and its eastern border is marked 
by the line of elevated mesas adjoining Canyon Largo beyond the 
limits of the area studied. Its surface maintains an elevation of 
5.500-6,500 feet, with a general slight slope toward the San Juan. 
Many low, flat tables of horizontal rock diversify the surface, and 
isolated buttes form prominent landmarks. The valleys are pre- 
vailingly wide, flat-floored swales, trenched by shallow, sharp-cut 
canyons. Even the Chaco and the Gallego valleys, which drain the 
plateau and present formidable canyons at their headwaters, de- 
velop open floors and sides broken into masses of low hills along 
their lower reaches. 

Chaco Plateau is for the most part bare of trees, except for clumps 
of pinon and juniper, but it is well supplied with grass and admir- 
ably adapted for stock raising. A number of small lakes contain 
water throughout the year, and most of the wells sunk have proved 
satisfactory. The results obtained in irrigated gardens and small 
fields attest the fertility of the soil. Numerous ruins in Chaco 
Canyon and its branches, including the famous Pueblo Bonito at 
Putnam, point to a long occupation by an agricultural race. Wells 
for oil in the Seven Lakes region may yet prove of commercial value, 
and the coal included in the Cretaceous sandstone remains an un- 
developed asset. 

CHUSKA VALLEY. 

Between the Button and Chaco plateaus on the east and the moun- 
tains along the New Mexico- Arizona boundary is the wide, open 
lowland that has received the name Chuska Valley. Its length 
from the Puerco divide to the San Juan is 85 miles and its width 



GEOGRAPHIC PEOVINCES. 25 

varies from 10 miles near its head to nearly 40 miles in the latitude of 
Carrizo Mountain, the average being about 15 miles. The gradient 
of the valley floor, about 10 feet to the mile, is broken at many points 
by wide alluvial flats and short stretches of canyon, and in places 
the stream channels are obliterated by wind-blown sand. In geologic 
structure Chuska Valley is a syncline composed of stratified sand- 
stones, shales, and coals. The western limb rises by regular grada- 
tion to the summit of the Chuska Mountains ; the east side of the 
valley is marked by a labyrinth of broken mesas, flat-topped ridges, 
and low hogbacks eroded into fantastic knobs and pinnacles. Be- 
sides the clusters of low mesas two prominent hogbacks, one crossing 
the San Juan at Liberty, the other, facing Carrizo Mountain, rise 
from the valley flat to heights of 1,000 feet and 800 feet, respectively. 
Of several igneous dikes and necks which rise abruptly from the 
broken floor, Bennett Peak (PL III, A) (" Peaks of the Ojos Calien- 
tes"^) and Shiprock^ (PI. Ill, B) have long served as land- 
marks. In fact Shiprock, which thrusts itself into the air to a 
height of 1,400 feet above its base, is one of the most remarkable 
igneous masses to be found in the Southwest. 

Redrock Valley (Navajo, Tselichi) lies between Lukachukai and 
Carrizo Mountains. Unlike the main Chuska Valley, to which it 
forms a sort of tributary bay, its floor is carved in colored rocks of 
Triassic and Jurassic age and traversed by many short, bare- walled 
canyons arranged according to an intricate pattern. Many springs 
and a few short streams emerge from canyoned recesses only to lose 
their way before joining Standing Eedrock Creek and Black Horse 
Creek, which carry the flood waters through Red Wash to the San 
Juan. 

The run-off from 5,790 square miles is drained through Chuska 
Valley to the San Juan, but as none of the twenty-two large and over 
one hundred small tributaries supply a continuous stream, the valley 
is dry during a large part of the year. Springs along the valley axis 
serve for watering places on the long road from Gallup to Shiprock 
and determine the location of stores. To recover the large underflow 
in the gravel-floored washes a number of successful shallow wells 
have been dug. The geologic structure is favorable also for flowing 
wells, and development of water by wells would enable Chuska 
Valley to support two or three times the present Indian population. 

1 Simpson's map, 1857. 

2 Erroneously named Wilson's Peak on the Land Office map. This dike or neck of basic 
rock attracted the attention of Newberry (1859), who saw it from the north side of the 
San Juan at a distance of 10 miles. On Newberry's map the term " Needles " is used. 
Holmes, in his report on Carrizo Mountain (1877), also speaks of the " Needles," " a mass 
of volcanic rock which terminates in a cluster of needlelike points or spires." The term 
applied by Newberry and by Holmes has been discarded and Shiprock is now universally 
used. The name is peculiarly applicable, since the rock has the appearance of a ship under 
full sail. The Navajo name, Tsebidai, signifies " the winged rock." 



26 THE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 

The flora of sage and of greasewood is interspersed with solitary 
piiions and junipers, which become plentiful along the valley sides. 
Grass is of good quality and fairly abundant, except near the perma- 
nent watering places. Groups of Navajos have more or less perma- 
nent habitations along the tributary washes, and by means of dry 
farming supplemented by flood irrigation raise crops of corn. 

Trading posts have been established at Sheep Spring, Crozier, 
Tuntsa [Captain Tom's Wash], Noel's, Eedrock, and Biltabito, and 
these, with missionary establishments at Tohachi, Liberty, Jewett, 
and Toadlena, the stores and Government school at Tohachi, and 
the fully equipped agency at Shiprock on the San Juan, complete 
the list of stations where Navajos and whites come into contact. A 
wagon road traversing the valley joins Gallup with the towns on the 
San Juan; roads also run from Fort Defiance to Tohachi, and con- 
nection with the upper Black Creek Valley may be made by way of 
Washington Pass. 

MANUELITO PLATEAIT." 

The series of flat-topped hills outlined by the 7,000-foot contour 
and lying between Puerco River and Chuska Mountain may be 
grouped under the name of the Manuelito Plateau. In this area the 
high points are remnants of horizontal sandstone beds and are usually 
sharply defined by cliffs on all sides. The valleys are broad, open, 
flat-floored washes, in many places trenched by narrow arroyos cut 
in material which covers the rock floor. The valley slopes are gentle, 
and gullies rather than hills impede progress. Piiion and juniper 
with yellow pine clothe the mesas; sagebrush and greasewood cover 
the lower slopes, and a variety of rank weeds have obtained posses- 
sion of the sand and adobe flats to the exclusion of forage plants. 
Tracts of the most valuable timber have been set aside as national 
forests. Grass, though limited in quantity and much overgrazed, is 
fairly satisfactory in normal seasons, but water is very scarce. Be- 
tween the railroad at Gallup and Fort Defiance (35 miles), along the 
most generally used road in northern New Mexico and Arizona, only 
one permanent water supply (Rock Spring) is to be found. Sheep 
raising occupies the time of the Navajo inhabitants. A few farms 
have been located near the railroad by the whites ; and the extensive 
mining operations near Gallup give employment to several hundred 
men. Coal for Fort Defiance and St. Michaels is also mined at the 
western edge of the plateau. 

1 Manuelito was a famous Navajo chief who rendered helpful service to the exploring 
parties of early days. 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 380 PLATE II 









A. BENNETT PEAK AND VICINITY. 
Typical view in middle Chuska Valley. 




B. SHIPROCK AND VICINITY. . 
Typical view in lower Chuska Valley. Photograph by M. K. Shaler. 



U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 380 PLATE IV 




CREST OF WASHINGTON PASS, CHUSKA MOUNTAINS, LOOKING EAST. 

Photograph by Mrs. H. E. Gregory. 



GEOGEAPHIC PROVIKCES. 27 

CHUSKA MOUNTAINS. 
NOMENCLATURE. 

Along the New Mexico- Arizona boundary lies a range of moun- 
tains which extends from the mesas of Manuelito Plateau north- 
ward to Bedrock Valley. Though essentially uniform in geologic 
structure and topographic expression, it is separated in the minds 
of the Navajos into a number of indefinitely outlined parts. In the 
earliest map of this range (Simpson, 1851) the northern portion is 
labeled " Sierra de Tumecha," and the part south of Washington 
Pass, " Sierra de Chusca." This practice was generally followed 
by map-makers connected with military expeditions until the publi- 
cation by the United States Geological Survey of the Canyon de 
Chelly topographic map in 1892. On the map of that date a third 
division of the range — " Lukachukai " — was added to " Choiskai " 
and "Tunitcha." These terms were supposed to embody Navajo 
usage, which they do in a broad sense. The lack of topographic 
significance of the terms is shown by translation. Lukachukai means 
patches of white reeds ; Tunitcha, large or much water ; and Chuska, 
white spruce. My Navajo guides informed me that these terms 
refer to particular spots rather than to areas, a reasonable explana- 
tion in view of the fact that on each of the subdivisions of this con- 
tinuous range spruce and reeds are to be found in several localities, 
and that each is about equally well supplied with both lakes and 
running streams. 

In the introduction to an ethnologic dictionary of the Navajo 
language, published by the Franciscan fathers of St. Michaels, Ariz., 
in 1910, the northwestern end of the range is called " Lukachukai 
Mountains," the central part is called the " Tunicha Range," and 
the southeastern end the " Chuska Range." In a report on life 
zones and crop zones of New Mexico, Vernon Bailey^ applies the 
name " Chusca Mountains " to the entire range, giving the follow- 
ing information in a footnote : 

The name Chusca, or Choiskai, is generally applied to the southern half, 
and Tunicha, or Tunitcha, to the northern half of this perfectly continuous 
and nearly uniform range. There is certainly not room for two names, and 
I have used the one that seems better known and in its shorter form, which is 
in common use among local residents. 

This use of Chuska for the entire range has been approved by 
the United States Geographic Board, but the subdivisions Lukachu- 
kai, Tunitcha, and Chuska are retained for purposes of description 
as well as for historical reasons. 

1 U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur. Biol. Survey North Am. Fauna No. 35, p. 60, 1913. 



28 THE NAVAJO COUNTBY. 

EASTERN EDGE. 

The eastern flank of the Chuska Mountains is an imperfectly 
graded slope which rises from Chuska Valley at the rate of 200 to 
300 feet per mile up to the 8,000-foot contour, above which steep and 
frequently precipitous cliffs extend to the edges of the plateau-like 
summit. Stream channels, spaced 1 mile to 3 miles apart, gash the 
surficial debris and in places cut into bedrock. Many of these chan- 
nels contain water in their upper courses, and a line of springs, each 
surrounded by a small meadow, is found near the base of the upper 
cliffs. The slopes are covered with piiion and juniper, with alder, 
willow, and aspen along the short streams, and oaks and a few mag- 
nificent yellow pines along the higher benches above 7,000 feet. The 
scrub oak attains sizes up to 15 inches in diameter and is plentiful 
enough for corrals and house timbers; pines 8 inches to 2 feet in 
diameter were noted.^ 

The Navajos here are prosperous; they raise corn, wheat, potatoes, 
and garden truck, and bale hay for market by pressing it into holes 
in the ground and tying with yucca or willow withes. Several well- 
made log cabins were noted between Tohachi and Washington Pass. 
The Indians along the east base of the Chuska Mountains have 
ready access to the school and subagency at Tohachi, the Mission 
station at Toadlena, as well as the stores in Chuska Valley. Nu- 
merous trails, in addition to the wagon road through Washington 
Pass,^ lead to Crystal and to Fort Defiance. 

WESTERN EDGE. 

Unlike the eastern border of the Chuska Mountains, their western 
edge presents a nearly vertical escarpment, continuous except for the 
mouths of numerous canyons which reach into the heart of the 
mountains. Another distinguishing feature is the type of drainage. 
Most of the streams scarring the eastern flank rise on the immediate 
rim and collect little water from the mountain top; those flowing 
west extend nearly across the mountain summit. Because of this 
enlarged drainage area the streams emerging from the red bound- 
ing cliff wall are perennial. Upper Black Creek, Simpson Creek,^ 

1 Simpson (1850) mentioned pine trees 8 feet in circumference and 80 feet high. 

2 This pass, named by Simpson in honor of Lieut. Col. John M. Washington, governor of 
New Mexico and commander of the " Expedition against the Navajos " in 1849, is definitely 
located on Simpson's map and figured as plate 45 of the oflBcial report. The location of 
Washington Pass on the Canyon de Chelly topographic map of the United States Geological 
Survey is erroneous. The local name for this pass, " Cottonwood," is not only confusing 
but inappropriate, because of the absence of cottonwoods at this elevation (8,500 feet). 

^ Simpson Creek is proposed as the name of the stream rising in Washington Pass and 
flowing west to Black Lake. Capt. Simpson's expedition was the first party of white men 
to cross the Chuska Mountain by this route. The Navajo term (Besth-kli-chee-begez = 
stream running from two peaks) is considered too awkward for map use, and the local 
name " Cottonwood " has no significance. 



GEOGRAPHIC PROVINCES. 29 

Whiskey Creek, Palisade Creek, Wheatfields Creek, Spruce Brook, 
and Lukachukai Creek are beautiful streams of water, all capable of 
more extended use in irrigation. Prosperous groups of Navajos live 
on Simpson Creek and in Todilto Park (Navajo, sounding Avater) , on 
upper Black Creek, where conditions for both agriculture and stock 
raising are very satisfactory. 

The flora along the westward-flowing streams presents a variety 
even greater than that found on the eastern flank of the mountains. 
In addition to yellow pine and spruce and fir and the ever-present 
pinon and juniper, oaks, aspens, birch, and willows are plentiful. 
Hops and briars are twined about the shrubs, and flowers grow in 
profusion. The Indians cultivate gardens and raise patches of corn 
and of wheat and have a practice of fencing choice meadow lands 
in which native grass is allowed to reach maturity. Except for the 
lack of outlook no more desirable camping spots could be found. 
Stores at Crystal, at Greasewood, and at Round Rock supply local 
needs, and fairly good wagon roads lead to Fort Defiance and to 
Chinle. 

THE MOUNTAIN TOP. 

The wall forming the upper portion of the slopes flanking the 
Chuska Mountains rises to an altitude of about 8,000 feet. Above this 
point the range spreads out as a plateau with a relief of approxi- 
mately 1,000 feet. The summit plateau is developed partly in Ter- 
tiary sediments and partly in lava (PL IV), and erosion has pro- 
duced wide grass-covered valleys above which rise small mesas and 
irregularly shaped buttes capped by more indurated portions of the 
sandstone strata. Two large areas on Chuska Mountain and one on 
Tunitcha Mountain present flat surfaces at 8,800 to 9,000 feet. On 
Chuska Mountain these elevations mark the summit. The culminat- 
ing points on Tunitcha Mountain are Matthews Peak^ (9,403 feet) 
and Roof Butte (9,575 feet) . The highest level on Lukachukai Moun- 
tain is reached at View Point (9,430 feet). From this mesa an unob- 
structed view may be obtained of the gorgeous panorama of Redrock 
Valley, Carrizo Mountain, and the lands beyond the San Juan. The 
Ute, La Plata, Aba jo, Henry, and Navajo mountains are clearly 
visible ; and in the middle distance are displayed the canyoned valley 
of the Chinle and the red-walled Monument Valley, dominated by 
the towering Agathla Peak. In the immediate foreground the eye 
rests on 14 lakes, bordered by grass and flowers and shaded by pines 
and oaks. This mesa is an ideal camp spot, well supplied with water, 
wood, and forage. 

1 Named in memory of Dr. Washington Matthews, author of many papers on Navajo 
anthropology. 



30 THE NAVAJO COUNTBY. 

Beyond the heads of the canyons the top of the Chuska Mountains 
is imperfectly drained. The streams meander through wide grass- 
covered floors, and swamp-bordered lakes are common. These minia- 
ture lakes, of which 41 are mapped on Chuska Mountain alone, 
exceed 100 in number and constitute a remarkable feature for these 
altitudes in the arid southwest. 

The flora covering the mountain top is prevailingly yellow pine, 
but oak, fir, spruce, black birch, aspen, alder, and willow are com- 
mon. Raspberries and wild currants are present; and among the 
flowers noted are roses, Mariposa lily, geranium, bluebells, wild flax, 
and foxglove. Grass is abundant and of good quality — a fact which 
makes these mountains the goal of the Navajo herdsmen when water 
fails in the lower lands. 

CARRIZO MOUNTAIN". 

Carrizo Mountain rises, a solitary mass, above the floor of the 
Chuska and San Juan valleys (PI. V).^ It is separated from its 
nearest neighbor, Lukachukai Mountain, by the beautiful Bedrock 
Yalley. Unlike Lukachukai and other subdivisions of the Chuska 
Mountains, Carrizo owes its position and form to the intrusion of 
igneous rock which has flexed the sedimentary strata into a dome. 
The top of the mountain presents a roughly flat surface at an eleva- 
tion of 8,000 to 8,500 feet; other plateaus stand at 9,000 feet, and 
above them rise rounded peaks reaching their greatest height at 
Zilbetod (9,400 feet) and Pastora Peak^ (9,420 feet). The moun- 
tain sides are gashed by valleys which reach well into the body of 
the mass. Near their heads these valleys are bordered by nearly 
vertical walls ; farther down the canyons are replaced by wide-floored 
washes. Permanent streams occupy portions of these valleys and, 
together with springs perched high upon the mountain flanks, fur- 
nish sufficient water for the needs of the Navajo. Where the moun- 
tain is not overgrazed grass is found over the top and sides among 
thinly spread groves of yellow pine. Search for mineral wealth on 
Carrizo has resulted in failure, and the Navajo tends his sheep un- 
disturbed by other interests. Stores at Tisnasbas, at the north base 
of the mountain, at Biltabito, and in Redrock Yalley supply local 
needs and, with the mission at Tisnasbas, include all the white inhab- 
itants of the Carrizo Mountain area. Until recently Carrizo Moun- 
tain was forbidden ground to the whites, but no obstacles are now 
placed in the way of scientists whose mission is understood by the 
Navajos. 

1 The Navajo name for Carrizo Mountain is the picturesque term Dzil naozili=the 
mountain surrounded by mountains. 

2 Named by W. H. Holmes in 1875. 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 380 PLATE VI 




A. SAN JUAN VALLEY AT SHIPROCK. 
Photograph by W. B. Emery. 




B. SAN JUAN CANYON 3 MILES BELOW GOODRIDGE, UTAH. 



GEOGRAPHIC PROVINCES. 31 



GOTHIC MESAS. 



The area south of the San Juan, extending to the base of Carrizo 
and Lukachukai mountains, and inckided between Chuska and Chinle 
valleys, is cut into an intricate mass of mesas of various sizes and 
shapes, carved from massive red sandstone. For this geographic 
province the name Gothic Mesas is proposed. The complicated topo- 
graphic pattern of the region was noted by Macomb, who gave the 
name Gothic Wash^ to the wide-mouthed canyon which joins the 
San Juan above Comb Eidge. This mesa land is drained directly 
into the San Juan or into that river by way of the Chinle. The 
principal streani is Walker Creek,^ which carries the water from 
more than twenty sharply cut canyons heading in Carrizo and 
Lukachukai mountains. Two of the upper canyons tributary to 
Walker Creek — Alcove and Seklagaideza — are unusually labyrinthine 
in character and are deeply cut into brightly colored strata, whose 
precipitous edges are elaborately carved into alcoves and recesses. 
The protection afforded by these overhanging cliffs attracted an 
ancient people whose ruined homes are to be seen along the canyon 
wall. Arido and Desert creeks are typical of the short canyons that 
carry flood waters directly to the San Juan. A large part of this 
area is floored with bare rock, swept clean by the wind. Here and 
there isolated pinons and fields of sage indicate the presence of soil, 
and along the canyon bottoms groups of Indians have sheep corrals 
and small patches of corn. Trading posts at Mexican Water (No- 
kaito), at Tisnasbas, and at Bluff supply a market for wool and 
blankets, the products of Navajo sheep husbandry. The old Mor- 
mon road from Bluff passes Tohanadla and Totocong springs on 
its way to Tyende and Tuba. Gothic Mesas may be reached from 
the railroad at Farmington, N. Mex., over an ancient trail now 
developed into an execrable wagon road. 

SAN JUAN VALLEY.^ 

Between Farmington, N. Mex., and Goodridge, Utah, the San 
Juan occupies a flood plain 1 to 2 miles wide (PI. Y1,A) ; below 
Goodridge the stream follows the floor of a narrow meandering can- 
yon, 1,200-2,500 feet deep, to its junction with the Colorado (PI. 
VI, 5). In general, tributaries from the north join the San Juan 
as wide-mouthed washes; those from the south occupy canyons; the 
arable land is therefore confined to cottonwood-covered flats on the 
north side of the river, and here also are the villages of Farmington, 

1 Gothic Wash as indicated on the Canyon de Chelly topographic map occupies the posi- 
tion of Walker Creek. On the present map Gothic Wash is given the location originally 
assigned to it by Macomb in 1860. 

2 See footnote, p. 90. 

3 This province is not outlined on the map (PI. I, in pocket). 



32 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

Fruitland, Liberty, Jewett, the Indian agency at Shiprock, the 
farmer station at Aneth, and the prosperous Mormon settlement at 
Bluff, Utah (PL VII). At a number of points along the river aban- 
doned machinery and miners' huts mark the site of gold prospects, 
and the oil field at Goodridge has been extensively developed. Few 
Indians occupy the south bank of the San Juan west of the Colorado 
line. The alluvial flats on the north bank are dotted with hogans, 
the homes of Navajos who combine stock raising with agriculture. 
Along the river above the mouth of the Chinle the Navajos and 
Piutes are found together; from Goodridge to Piute Canyon the 
widely scattered families belong to the Piute tribe. Below Piute 
Canyon no Indians were seen, either on the San Juan or the Colo- 
rado. Cottonwood trees are found on the flood plain all along the 
river ; pinon and junipers protrude from cracks in the canyon walls ; 
and shrubs of several varieties occupy rock benches bordering the 
stream. Driftwood is piled high at favorable localities. The San 
Juan is spanned by a bridge at Goodridge, and a second bridge is 
being constructed at Shiprock. The treacherous character of the 
river tends to discourage crossing at points between Farmington 
and Goodridge. A trail at the mouth of Copper Canyon leads north- 
ward into Utah ; elsewhere on the deeply intrenched lower San Juan 
crossing is precarious. 

BLACK CREEK VALLEY. 

Between the Chuska Mountains and Defiance Plateau, extending 
from Black Lake to Houck station, lies Black Creek Valley. The 
average slope of the valley floor is about 25 feet per mile for its 
length of 60 miles. Throughout its course it presents widely differ- 
ent aspects. In the vicinity of Crystal its floor is flat and occupied 
by ephemeral lakes. Beginning at Hunter Point the valley narrows 
to 1 mile, then increases in width to Oak Spring, at which point it 
is replaced by a red- walled canyon, 600 feet deep and less than half 
a mile wide, cut through the Defiance monocline (PL Ami, A). 
Below the canyon the valley gradually increases in width until it 
joins the Puerco. Black Eock near Fort Defiance, The Beast, and 
several other necks and dikes, at the foot of Red Lake, rise 100 to 
300 feet above the valley floor and contrast strongly with the bright- 
colored sediments which surround them (PL VIII, B). Also above 
the floor of the valley rise long, low ridges of shale and mounds of 
variegated, friable materials, which are cut into "badland" forms. 
One of these ridges, behind which lies Fort Defiance, is so placed 
as to afford a magnificent view of the valley, including the massive 
red walls of sandstone displaying alcoves and curtains, the detached 
"haystacks," and the purple and ash-gray shales intricately carved 
into a fascinating variety of form. These beautifully colored strata 



GEOGRAPHIC PROVINCES. 33 

appear as a frame for the picturesque Zilditloi Mountain. Interest- 
ing minor features are the Natural Bridge west of Black Eock, and 
the well-known window southeast of Fort Defiance. 

The valley is drained by Black Creek, which enters Black Creek 
Valley at Eed Lake, 12 miles below the valley head. The water in 
the upper part of the valley flows out on a flat from which it escapes 
only at exceptionally high stages. One permanent stream, upper 
Black Creek, enters the valley from the east; from the west the 
Bonito at Fort Defiance and the Cienega at St. Michaels contribute 
small but constant supplies. The outlet stream from Buell Park also 
reaches Black Creek during part of the year. The supplies from 
these tributaries, supplemented by a large underground flow, serve 
to make Black Creek a living stream through a large portion of its 
course. That Black Creek Valley is fertile is amply demonstrated by 
the successful agriculture carried on at Fort Defiance, St. Michaels, 
Houck, and a few other points. The storage reservoir at Bed 
Lake and the proposed reservoir at Oak Spring afford opportuni- 
ties for more extensive development. 

The flora of the valley is primarily sage, greasewood, and hardy 
annuals. Juniper and pihon in large numbers occupy the ridges and 
are sparingly distributed over the lower flats. The scant grass of 
the valley shows the effect of overgrazing. 

In Black Creek Valley are the oldest permanent white settlements 
within the Navajo Reservation. Simpson^ in 1850 appears to have 
first called attention to the attractive features of Fort Defiance and 
St. Michaels.- Soon after Simpson's visit Fort Defiance was estab- 
lished as a military post and became a way station for early explora- 
tory expeditions, beginning with Whipple (Marcou, geologist), 
1853-54. During the wars with the Navajos Fort Defiance was the 
center of considerable military activity, and the name of Kit Carson 
is closel}^ associated with its history. At a much later date Fort 
Defiance became the Navajo agency from which a limited and in- 
effectual control over the Indians was exercised. Under the guidance 
of efficient superintendents Fort Defiance has become, within the last 
10 years, the most influential center Avithin the Indian country. The 
work of Government schools and hospitals and farms has been sup- 
plemented by the establishment of a private hospital and a Protestant 
mission. A Roman Catholic school and a Franciscan establishment 
at St. Michaels (Navajo, Tso hotso=yellow meadow, the Cienega 
Amarilla of the Mexicans) still further increase the civilizing in- 
fluences within Black Creek Valley. The response of the Navajos 

1 Simpson, Lieut. J. H., An expedition into tlie Navajo country : 31st Cong., 1st sess., 
Ex. Doc. G4, 1850. 

2 Simpson's route from ttie mouth of Canj^on de Chelly led past " Sandstone column " 
(Carson's Monument), " Cafioncito Bonito " (Fort Defiance), " Sieneguilla de Maria " (St. 
Michaels), and thence down Black Creek valley to Zuni. 

33033°— wsp 380—16 3 



34 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

to these opportunities is shown by the large number of permanent 
homes and cultivated fields distributed along the valley from Red 
Lake southward to the railroad. 

DEFIANCE PLATEAU." 

The eastern border of Defiance Plateau is sharply defined by 
Black Creek Valley and the escarpment of Tunitcha and Lukachukai 
mountains. Its western boundary is the Chinle and Pueblo Colo- 
rado Valley. From Round Rock to Sanders, Defiance Plateau is 
nearly 100 miles long. Its average width is about 40 miles, except 
along Puerco River, where it is 60 miles. The plateau is essentially 
an elongated dome rising above a rim which stands at an altitude of 
7,000 feet on the eastern border of the plateau and at 6,000 feet on 
the western border. The dome flattens toward the north, where the 
descent is gradual to 5,500 feet; at the southwest also the plateau 
surface drops below 6,000 feet and reaches its lowest elevation (5,200 
feet) in the cliffs facing Puerco River at Holbrook. About 20 square 
miles of the flat summit northwest of Fort Defiance is bounded by 
the 7,800-foot contour. The plateau as a whole is free from mesas 
and buttes which interrupt the skyline, but those which are present 
assume unusual prominence. Round Rock (Navajo, Tsenakani), 
6,020 feet high, is an example of a small group of buttes carved from 
massive sandstone, but most of the landmarks rising out of the 
plateau floor are igneous in origin. Black Pinnacle, Sezhini, and 
Sonsela (Navajo, twin stars) Buttes, the last named reaching 9,000 
feet in elevation, are prominent features in the upper Canyon de 
Chelly region; and Pilot Rock (6,600 feet), northeast of Holbrook, 
is a landmark on the southwest edge of the plateau. The highest 
point (8,600 feet) on the central portion of the plateau is the well- 
known Fluted Rock (Navajo, Zildasaani). 

Padres Mesa and other highlands overlooking the Puerco Valley, 
and drained by Chambers, Lithodendron,^ Wide Ruin, and Leroux 
washes,^ present long slopes leading southward and sharply trun- 
cated on their northwest edges. They are traversed on intercanyon 
spaces by open valleys, interrupted by areas of dunes which together 
form a topography without sharp relief. Bare rock is rarely ex- 
posed and soil is apparently deep. 

The surface of Defiance Plateau is drained by wide, flat-floored 
valleys trenched by narrow, shallow canyons. The general slope of 
the plateau is westward, becoming southwestward at the southern 

1 In the absence of any Navajo, Mexican, or English term now in use the name Defiance 
(after Fort Defiance) is proposed for this well-defined geographic unit. 

2 This name Lithodendron was applied to this wash by Whipple (1853-54), who dis- 
covered the fossil forests at this locality. Lithodendron Creek appears also on the official 
Army map of 1883. Whipple applied the name " Carrizo Creek " to the short wash next 
east of Lithodendron. 

3 Named by Whipple (1853-54) "Leroux Forks." Antoine Leroux served as guide for 
Whipple and for Sitgreaves. 



GEOGRAPHIC PEOVINCES. 35 

and northwestward at the northern margins. The eastward-flowing 
streams tributary to Black Creek are accordingly short and carry 
little water; those trending westward are long and many of them 
are perennial. At the south, Chambers Wash, Lithodendron Wash, 
and the 50-mile long Wide Kuin Wash^ are examples of valleys 
which have developed extensive floo^ plains across which wander 
the seasonal streams. The Pueblo Colorado and Nazlini, together 
with many smaller channels, traverse the western slopes in canyons 
100 to 300 feet deep. The northern slope is drained by Lukachukai, 
Agua Sal, and Sheep Dip creeks. The largest stream on the plateau, 
and the one which has cut the deepest canyon, occupies the famous 
Canyon de Chelly,^ and its tributary Canyon del Muerto (PI. IX, A). 
These streams carry a large portion of the run-off from Chuska and 
Tunitcha mountains, which insures a permanent flow. They occupy 
canyons cut in red sandstone, bounded by walls 800 feet high, from 
which project enormous pinnacles, buttresses, and towers. In niches 
carved in the canyon walls stand buildings of an ancient race, which 
have held the attention of archeologists and explorers since their 
discovery by Simpson in 1850 (PL IX, B). Except at its southern 
end water may be found on Defiance Plateau at points rarely more 
than 8 to 10 miles apart, even during the dry season. Between Wide 
Euin Wash and the Santa Fe Eailway line permanent water occurs 
only at a few localities, but grass is abundant. 

Forests of yellow pine cover the higher parts of the plateau and 
furnish the lumber locally used. With the pines are groves of 
scrub oak, and along the margins of the plateau pihon and jumper 
form continuous forests or solitary groups standing in the midst 
of extensive tracts of sage, which here attains a height of 4 to 6 
feet. Within the canyons cottonwood, oak, and hackberry are found ; 
and in Canyon de Chelly and Nazlini Canyon seedling peach trees 
form an unexpected phase of the flora. Natural agriculture, chiefly 
limited to the raising of corn, is practiced in Wide Ruin, Pueblo 
Colorado, and other Avashes where flood irrigation is feasible. Along 
Simpson Creek, Wheatfields Creek,^ Spruce Brook, and Lukachukai 
Creek many Indian farms are located, and at Lukachukai the 
Xavajos have developed the most successful farms observed on the 
reservation. Corn, wheat, alfalfa, potatoes, and melons are raised 
here, both with and without the aid of irrigation. The Government 
irrigation projects at Ganado and at Wheatfields are designed to in- 

1 wide Ruin is the remains of a prehistoric " palace," 400 feet square, built across a 
narrow wash, and containing a rock-walled well. 

2 The orthography Canyon de Chelly (pronounced de Shay) was obtained by Simpson 
(Expedition to the Navajo country, p. 69) from Senor Donaciano Vigil, secretary of the 
Province of New Spain, who states that it is of Indian origin. The word is probably a 
Spanish corruption of the Navajo term Tse-yi — that is, " in the rock canyon." Tsa lee is 
the term applied to the head of Canyon del Muerto, an English form of the Navajo Sehili — 
that is, " it flows into the canyon." Chinle signifies " it flows from' the canyon." 

3 Cieneguilla de Juanito of Simpson. 



36 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

crease the acreage at points where agriculture is now carried on by in- 
telligent Navajos. Trading posts on Defiance Plateau are located at 
Wide Euin, Cross Canyon, Saw Mill, Nazlini, Sheep Dip, Crystal, and 
Eound Eock, and a Government farmer is stationed at Wheatfields. 
The Indians, however, most frequently visit the stores at Fort De- 
fiance, St. Michaels, Ganado, and Chinle, where schools and mis- 
sions and Government officers are located. The beginning of per- 
manent white settlement at Lukachukai is marked by the erection 
of a Franciscan chapel. Nearly all the Indian settlements on De- 
fiance Plateau are now accessible by reasonably good roads. Eegular 
mail stages ply between St. Michaels and Ganado, and the Fort 
Defiance-Chinle road is in constant use except during the winter, 
when heavy snowfalls block the way. 

CHINLE AND PUEBLO COLORADO VALLEYS. 

The Chinle and Pueblo Colorado washes, though carrying water in 
opposite directions, form a continuous valley traversing the entire 
width of the Navajo Eeservation and separating areas of unlike 
character. Chinle Wash heads in a flat divide at Ganado and re- 
ceives drainage from Defiance Plateau and the Gothic Mesas on the 
east, and from Black and Segi mesas on the west. In its length of 
over 100 miles it descends at the rate of 13 feet per mile from 6,700 
to 4,400 feet, where it joins the San Juan. South from the divide at 
Ganado, the Pueblo Colorado Wash extends to the Puerco at Hol- 
brook, dropping 1,700 feet in a distance of about 90 miles. Neither 
wash receives water with sufficient regularity to insure permanent 
flow, but the gravel floors of both carry large quantities of under- 
ground water, which comes to the surface for short stretches. Dur- 
ing the dry season the Pueblo Colorado Wash is without water, and 
along its lower reaches becomes the playground of drifting sands. 
During normal years the Chinle is a permanent stream from the 
mouth of T^^ende Creek to the San Juan, but its upper part becomes 
dry between showers. Even the Nazlini, the De Chelly, and the 
Lukachukai lose their waters before joining their master stream. 
During the rainy season and following showers both the Pueblo 
Colorado and the Chinle washes are flooded and in their flatter 
portions form shallow lakes a mile or more in width. The most 
reliable stream in the whole system is the Tyende, which, flowing 
from Marsh Pass, collects the w^aters from the southern part of 
the Segi Mesas. 

The immediate valley of Chinle Wash is walled in on the west, 
from its head to Bekihatso Lakes, by broken mesas and gentle slopes 
reaching back to Black Mesa. From Bekihatso Lakes to Setsiltso 
there is an inner wall of limestone and shales, which forms the front 
of Carson Mesa. Back of the edge of Carson Mesa an intricately 
carved region of mesas, flat-topped ridges, valley flats and slopes ex- 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 380 PLATE IX 




A. NORTH WALL OF CANYON DE CHELLY BETWEEN CANYON DEL MUERTO AND MONUMENT 

CANYON. 

Height of wall may be judged from size of horse and buggy in middle distance. Photograph by W. C. 

Mendenhall. 




B. CLIFF HOUSE IN CANYON DE CHELLY AT JUNCTION WITH CANYON DEL MUERTO. 
Photograph by W. C. Mendenhall. 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 380 PLATE X 




A. PUEBLO COLORADO WASH BELOW TWIN MESAS. 
Cliffs of Chinle strata. 




B. VOLCANIC NECKS AT WEST EDGE OF HOPI BUTTES, ON CHANDLER'S RANCH. 



GEOGEAPHIC PROVINCES. 37 

tends to Black Mesa and up the T^^ende to Segi Mesas. Pillars, col- 
umns, needles, and natural windows set in the midst of dunes and 
bare rock domes are attractive features of this little known area. 

From Setsiltso Spring to the mouth of the Tyende, Chinle Creek 
flows through easily eroded materials in which it has cut a wide 
canyon which maintains a depth of 100 to 200 feet. Below Mexican 
Water the creek follows a canyon sunk 100 to 300 feet in massive red 
sandstone, and after cutting its path across Comb Kidge it joins the 
San Juan at grade. The Pueblo Colorado Wash nowhere assumes the 
proportions of a canj^on, but precipitous slopes rise on its western 
side to heights of 400 to 500 feet (PL X, ^) . 

The valley of Tyende Creek, the chief western tributary of the 
Chinle, is walled on the north by Comb Eidge, south and east of 
which it spreads widely until limited by broken mesas and ridges 
extending northeast from Black Mesa. East of Tyende School the 
valley is flat except for Church Rock and other igneous masses which 
rise abruptly from the floor. About 15 miles above its junction with 
the Chinle, Tyende Creek drops into a canyon with alluvial walls, 
which farther down are replaced by red sandstone. Between the 
Tyende-Chinle and Comb Ridge the Arizona-Utah line is crossed by 
Garnet Ridge. The surface of the ground at this locality is covered 
with erratics and strewn with garnets in unbelievable quantities, the 
source of the Arizona " rubies " of commerce. 

Sage and greasewood, with scattering pifions, rare junipers, and 
occasional groves of cottonwood make up the flora of these washes. 
Forage, except along the immediate stream channels, is fairly abun- 
dant. The Navajos utilize these valleys for agriculture, relying on the 
seasonal rains for irrigation. Several hundred Indians groiiped at 
"cornfields," particularly below Chinle School, along the Tyende, 
and between Ganado and Sunrise Springs, have made permanent 
homes and carry on successful agriculture. White settlements are 
situated at Sunrise Springs, Cornfields (6 miles below Ganado), 
Ganado, Chinle, and Tyende. 

HOPI BUTTES. 

South of Black Mesa and crossed by the southern boundary line 
of the Hopi Reservation, is an area of lava-capped mesas, igneous 
dikes and volcanic necks, which, since the days of the Spanish ex- 
plorers, has been known as the Hopi ^ Buttes (PL X, 5). 

Topographically the area consists of a platform of sedimentary 
rock whose edges are exposed in cliffs facing the Pueblo Colorado 
and the Little Colorado. The platform is tilted slightly toward the 

1 The term Hopi is preferable to the better known Moki or Moqni. The remnants of 
the ancient cliff dwellers now on the reservation call themselves Hopi. Moqui is a term 
of derision meaning- " dead ones," applied to the Hopi by the, Navajo. Hopi Bnttes is an 
older and more appropriate name for this area than Rabbit Ear Mountain, which first 
appeared on the Tusayan topographic map of the United States Geological Survey. 



38 THE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 

south, SO that a surface elevation at the base of Black Mesa of 
6,000 feet becomes 5,600 feet at Ives Mesa and Marcou Mesa, 40 
miles farther south. Above this floor rise more than 100 lava-capped 
mesas and buttes of igneous material, from 100 to 1,200 feet in 
height. Volcanism has long been extinct here, and ash cones and 
flows of recent date, such as are abundantly displayed^ about San 
Francisco Mountain, 70 miles to the west, are absent. The walls 
of the washes and of the mesas, as well as of the intervalley spaces, 
are cut in Triassic and Jurassic shales, which favor the production 
of erosion features of exceptional variety. All the types of " bad- 
land " topography find here their full expression. This intricate ero- 
sion fabric, brilliantly colored and strewn with petrified wood, gives 
to the area a striking individuality. There are no perennial streams 
in the whole Hopi Buttes province, and except for the floods of August 
the wide washes are deserts of drifting sand. The Hopi Buttes 
provide good grazing, which the numerous springs issuing from 
the lava enable the Indians to utilize, and the juniper and pinon 
clothing the mesas supply materials for corrals and semiperma- 
nent hogans. The Hopi Buttes are partly outside the Indian res- 
ervation, but allotments have been made to the Navajos on general 
public lands, and grazing and water are reserved for Indian use. 

Trading posts have long been situated at Indian Wells and at 
Cedar Springs, and in recognition of the growing importance of 
this district a Government farmer station has been established re- 
cently at Maddox (Stiles ranch. Castle Buttes), and a Protestant 
mission has been located at Indian Wells. 

TUSAYAU WASHES. 

The area south of Black Mesa and included between the Hopi 
Buttes and the Moenkopi Plateau is relatively simple in structure. 
Its principal topographic features are the four long Tusayan 
washes — Jadito, First Mesa (Polacca), Oraibi, and Dinnebito — 
which serve as channels to carry the waters from Black Mesa and 
the western half of the Hopi Buttes to the Little Colorado. Sepa- 
rating Jadito and First Mesa washes, Tovar Mesa ^ tapers south- 
westward, rising 100 to 400 feet above the valley floor. The flat 
terraced land which forms the divide between Oraibi and Din- 
nebito washes is wider and higher. Its southern extension, New- 
berry Mesa,^ faces the Little Colorado with a 200-foot cliff ; the two 
terraces of Garces Mesa^ have a combined height of 800 feet; the 

^ Pedro de Tovar was the leader of an exploring party sent out by Coro ado to investi- 
gate the Hopi pueblos in 1540. 

2 Named in honor of J. S. Newberry, who visited and described this mesa in 1858. 

3 Fray Garces journoyod back and forth in Arizona and California for several years, and 
his experiences arc related in the diary referred to elsewhere (p. 17). 



GEOGEAPHIC PEOVINCES. 39 

isolated Padilla Mesa/ an outlier of Black Mesa, rises 1,000 feet 
aboA'e the floor of the Dinnebito Wash. All the dividing mesas 
descend by a series of steps to the Little Colorado, but the floors 
of the washes descend gradually from elevations of 5,800 feet at 
the Hopi villages to 4,800 feet on the fiats along the river. Din- 
nebito Wash maintains its individuality from source to mouth, 
reaching the Little Colorado after a journey of 60 miles, in which 
distance it falls 1,400 feet. The other three washes have gentler 
gradients and unite at Tolani Lakes (Navajo, many waters), be- 
yond which point their waters are carried by Corn Creek. First 
Mesa Wash receives accessions from Second Mesa Wash, Wepo 
Wash, and Keams Canyon; Jadito Wash is joined by tributaries 
from the northwestern front of the Hopi Buttes, and Corn Creek 
has direct connection with Bardgeman and Coyote washes. All 
these valleys are marked by alluvial floors 1 to 5 miles wide, in 
the midst of which sharply cut, alluvium-walled arroyos carry flood 
waters from flat to flat. In many places channels are absent and 
waters poured from narrow arroyos spread widel}^ to form epheme- 
ral lakes. Tolani Lakes, a group of permanent fresh-water bodies 
in the lower Oraibi Wash, constitute a unique feature of the topog- 
raphy (p. 117). 

Trees are scarce in this area except on the higher mesas, but sage 
and greasewood are vigorous. 

The northern part of the Tusayan Washes has been utilized by the 
Hopis since days long antedating the Spanish conquest. Corn is 
cultivated by flood irrigation, usually by families whose homes are 
in the distant mesa villages. In the southern portion of the washes 
and on the intervening mesas Navajos have formed nomadic settle- 
ments where the water supply permits. Roads to Leupp and to 
Winslow furnish an outlet to white settlements, and stores at 
Tolchico, Cedar Springs, Oraibi, Toreva, Polacca, and Keams Can- 
yon, as well as along the railroad, furnish centers for trade. 

MOENKOPI PLATEAU. 

The triangular area bounded by Dinnebito and Moenkopi washes 
and the cliffs facing the Little Colorado is the least known part of 
the southern Navajo Reservation. From the west it is reached by 
ascending four terrace steps, each 400 feet high, finally attaining an 
elevation of 5,800 feet above sea. Howell Mesa^ stands alone on 
the plateau surface, above which it rises to a height of 800 feet. At 
the north edge of the Moenkopi Plateau a drop of 600 feet brings 
one to an extensive terrace 600 feet above the Moenkopi Wash, 

iJuan de Padilla, a Franciscan priest, discovered ttie Province of Tusayan (Hopi vil- 
lages) in 1540 and was finally killed by the Indians in a revolt against tbe white people 
and their religion. 

2 Named in honor of E. B. Howell, who made the first geologic traverse of this portion 
of the Navajo Reservation. 



40 THE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 

which here flows between banks whose height eqnals the terrace 
front. The Moenkopi Plateau is drained ahnost wholly into the 
Little Colorado through deep gashes cut in the terrace steps, or into 
the Moenkopi through canyons, 600 to 800 feet deep, whose sides are 
formed of gray, green, pink, and white strata of singular beauty 
(PL XI, ^). 

Pinon and juniper, arranged in groves or standing as individuals, 
rise out of the sage and grass-covered floor. Ward Terrace^ is 
utilized for grazing, and a few small fields west of Howell Mesa are 
tended by Navajos, but the plateau as a whole is little used. 

The plateau is crossed by a trail and a difficult wagon road be- 
tween Oraibi and Tuba, along which lies the mine which supplies 
coal to the Government school. 

BLACK MESA. 

A topographic map of the Navajo country shows Black Mesa as 
an island with a circumference of about 250 miles, and sharply 
defined on all sides by cliifs overlooking the surrounding geographic 
provinces. Its unity is broken toward the southeast, where Salahkai 
Mesa is partly disconnected and where a canyoned bordering shelf 
between Ganado and Keams Canyon forms a sort of lower step to 
Black Mesa proper. The east, northeast, and northwest sides of 
Black Mesa are defined by a cliff which, with minor notching, ex- 
tends continuously for 110 miles, as a wall rising 1,200 to 2,000 feet 
above the flattened slopes at its base. The southwestern and south- 
ern margins are made extremely sinuous by the development of long, 
scalloped mesas, which project like withered fingers into the Tusayan 
washes. The mesa attains its greatest elevation facing the Chinle 
valley, where, for a distance of 40 miles between Yale Point and 
Lolomai Point, a height of 8,000 feet above sea is maintained. From 
this high rim the surface of the plateau descends gradually to the 
south and southwest until its average elevation is 6,500 feet. A few 
detached messas, as Zillesa and Ziltahjini, rise above the surface, but 
in general the plateau presents an even sk}^ line broken by wide flat- 
tened valleys in the floors of which shallow rock can^^ons have been 
cut. The upper Moenkopi valley is an exception to the rule, and 
presents a formidable canyon, 400 to 600 feet in depth, with tribu- 
taries only slightly less prominent. 

The water which falls as rain on Black Mesa is carried south- 
westward into the Tusayan Washes and the Moenkopi by streams 
which rise on the most distant rim of the plateau, Avhereas the run-off 
received by the Chinle originates on the immediate face of the 
mountain. 

Black Mesa is rather thickly covered by forests of piiion and 
juniper, with pine on the higher portions and in certain sheltered 

^ Named for Lostor F. Ward, wlioso work in the Painted Desert region marked the 
boginninj? of detailed stratigrapliic studios for the Navajo Keservation. 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 380 PLATE XI 




A. COAL MINE CANYON, AT NORTH EDGE OF MOENKOPI PLATEAU. 




B. EFFECTS OF WIND EROSION, KAIBITO PLATEAU. 




a DUNE AND WIND-SCOURED FLOOR, KAIBITO PLATEAU. 



GEOGRAPHIC PEOVINCES. 41 

canyons. Sagebrush attains large size and grass of excellent qual- 
ity is abundant. At Tahchiio and elsewhere along the upper valleys 
Navajos and Hopis practice agriculture, but the principal occupation 
here, as elsewhere on the reservation, is sheep raising. 

Perched high on the southern extremities of Black Mesa are the 
villages of the Hopis — a singular people of ancient lineage, first 
made known to the world by Pedro de Tovar and Juan de Padilla 
of Coronado's expedition in 1540. Sichomovi, Hano, and Walpi, on 
the " First Mesa," Shipolovi, Mishongnovi, and Shongopovi on the 
" Second Mesa," Oraibi and Bacobi on the " Third Mesa," and the 
recently established Hotevila farther north enroll together about 
2.000 souls, the -remnant of a race whose ruined cliff houses, plains 
houses, and fields widely distributed over the reservation speak of a 
large and cultured population. Trading posts, schools, and missions 
at the Hopi villages and the agency and stores at Keams Can3^on 
bring the whites into contact wdth this race, which has resisted 
attempts at civilization ever since the fruitless labors of the early 
Spanish padres. Corn, melons, and peaches are the crops raised in 
sand dunes, along washes, and on artificially terraced slopes by a 
system of agriculture developed through centuries of experiment. 

KAIBITO PLATEAU. 

North of the Moenkopi Wash, extending to Navajo Canyon, and 
sharply defined on the west by the line of Echo Cliffs, is an area of 
geographic unity which may be termed the Kaibito Plateau. Its 
eastern boundary is in part the escarpment of Black Mesa and in 
part Eed Lake Wash, whidi trends southward from the rim of 
Navajo Canyon to join the Moenkopi at Blue Canyon. Its domi- 
nating point is White Mesa, a flat-topped, white-walled mass of 
sandstone, which is notched by picturesque box canyons and attains 
an elevation of 6,800 feet. Westward from White Mesa, Mormon 
Ridge, the drainage divide between Navajo and Moenkopi creeks, 
maintains an elevation of 6,000 to 6,400 feet to its junction with Echo 
Cliffs. A mesa of equal height stands south of Mormon Ridge, and 
east of it the igneous needle. Wildcat Peak (Navajo, Nishduitso; 
6,648 feet), rises from the plateau surface in such a manner as to be 
visible for distances of more than 50 miles. The floor of the plateau 
stands 4,400 feet above sea level at Tuba, and, passing the divide at 
6,000 to 6,400 feet, descends to the rim of Navajo Canyon at 5,200 
feet and to the Glen Canyon of the Colorado at 4,000 feet. Grass- 
covered, open valleys supporting sage and pihon mark the northern 
slopes of the plateau, but the southern slope is under the control of 
the wind, which has swept bedrock bare and piled dunes high in 
the lowland (PI. XI, B and C). The only permanent streams on 
Kaibito Plateau are the Moenkopi and the lower stretch of Red 
Lake Creek, but springs at Kaibito and about l^Tl^ite Mesa furnish 



42 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

supplies for stock, and water is abundant in the Tuba district. Red 
Lake always holds water, though of poor quality, and sand-bound 
pools in Begashibito Valley stili further increase the supply. 

The water of Moenkopi Creek, supplemented by water from 
springs, furnishes a supply for the most extensive farming carried on 
wdthin the limits of the Navajo Reservation. In the vicinity of 
Moenkopi village the ancient cliff dwellers, Hopi Indians, Mormon 
pioneers, and Government farmers have in turn produced corn, 
Avheat, oats, and fruits beyond their own immediate needs. The 
oasis of Tuba, settled by the Mormons in 1878 and purchased by the 
Government for an agency and school site in 1903, has orchards and 
vineyards, gardens and farms which make this spot, in spite of its 
desert-like surroundings, the most highly developed section of the 
reservation. Tuba is accessible from Flagstaff, 90 miles distant, by 
a road suitable for wagons or automobiles; and from Tuba as a 
center Lee Ferry, Red Lake, Tyende, or Oraibi may be reached by 
difficult roads leading across the desert. 

PAIISTTED DESERT. 

From Holbrook to the Colorado Can} on the Little Colorado flows 
through a brightly colored desert valley whose northern side is 
bounded by the cliffed edge of Ives and Newberry mesas and the 
walled fronts of Ward Terrace and Kaibito Plateau. This line of 
cliffs, trenched by Cottonwood, Oraibi, Dinnebito, and Moenkopi 
washes, and many minor valleys, stands within a mile of the river 
at Holbrook, below which point it follows the river at a distance of 
8 to 10 miles, returning to within 5 miles at Black Point. From 
Tanner Crossing to Lee Ferry the valley border, continued as Echo 
Cliffs, again recedes, leaving an irregularly dissected low^land 20 to 25 
miles broad. The river itself has developed extensive flood plains 
between Flolbrook and Wolf Crossing and above Grand Falls, and 
to a less extent between Black Falls and Tanner Crossing. A short 
canyon below Tolchico and a canyon between Grand and Black Falls 
confine the stream to narrow limits, and at Tanner Crossing the 
stream bed is sunk between rock walls which become higher and 
steeper until a canyon 3,000 feet deep joins the canyon of the Colo- 
rado. Low, broken mesas, surrounded by scattered dunes and intri- 
cately carved by wind and by water, add relief to the valley floor 
above Tanner Crossing. 

North of Moenkopi Wash, Cedar Mesas and Bodaway Mesa extend 
westward from Echo Cliffs and form a flat divide separating Roundy 
Creek,^ which enters the Colorado, and Hamblin Creek,^ which fol- 

1 Named for Bishop Rofindy, au explorer who lost his life at Lee Ferry in 1876. 

-Jacob Hamblin, of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints, had charge of the early 
colonization projects in the Little Colorado Valley. He gujled Maj. Powell over the Lee 
Ferry and Echo Cliffs route in 1871. 



GEOGRAPHIC PROVINCES. 43 

lows the base of Echo Cliffs to its junction with the Moenkopi. 
Overlooking Marble Canj^on the remnant of eroded sandstone, known 
as Shinumo Altar occupies an isolated position, rising 600 feet above 
the surrounding surface. Lavas, which are abundantly displayed 
west of Little Colorado Eiver, reach the stream at Grand Falls, 
Black Falls, Black Point, and at the mouth of Cedar Wash.^ The 
lava flow at Grand Falls has produced the picturesque cataract 
formed at this place (PL XII). The only large igneous mass east 
of the river is Black Knob, a well-known landmark on the lower 
Little Colorado. 

Notwithstanding its large drainage area, the Little Colorado pre- 
sents a dry bed below Winslow for several months in the year, and 
whether dry or filled to overflowing, this stream must be crossed with 
care because of quicksands that have made the river a byword since 
the days of early exploration. The long stretch from Holbrook 
to the Colorado was without bridges until 1912, when the Govern- 
men suspension bridge on the Flagstaff-Tuba road put an end to 
the precarious travel required to reach the western side of the reser- 
vation. The Little Colorado Valley is the most arid portion of 
northern Arizona, and the valley flats and rock slopes between Wins- 
low and the Moenkopi assume the character of a true desert with 
restricted and specialized plant and animal life.- Water is alkaline 
or is lacking except immediately along the stream, and the Navajo 
side of the river is accordingly not populated. The only compensa- 
tion for bare rock and gravel floor, intense heat, sand storms, and 
lack of vegetation is the magnificent coloring of cliffs and floor 
which justifies the name Painted Desert.^ The superintendents of 
the Western Navajo and the Navajo Extension reservations have 
joint charge of the few Indians who use the Little Colorado Valley 
as a grazing ground. Schools at Leupp and at Tu^ba and the mis- 
sion stations at Lyons ranch, Moenkopi, and Tolchico enlarge the 
sphere of influence exercised by the white man. 

SHATO PLATEAU. 

The long Klethla Valley, extending westward from Marsh Pass, 
forms the southern margin of a group of canyons and mesas which 
extends northward to the head of Piute Canyon and westward to 
Eed Lake Valley and the south branch of Navajo Canyon. Near 
the center of this area is the well-known spring Shato (Navajo, 
the mirror), whose name is here applied to the plateau on which 

1 Gregory, H. E., A reconnaissance of a portion of the Little Colorado Valley, Ariz. : 
Am. Jour. ScL, 4th ser., vol. 38, pp. 491-501, 1914. 

2 This term was applied by Ives and Newberry to the east side of the Little Colorado 
Valley between Sunset Crossing (Winslow) and Tanner Crossing, and the geologic forma- 
tion name "Painted Desert" was used by Ward (U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 48) for strata 
in this same area. It is here proposed to extend the term to include the region of identi- 
cal character between tiie INIoenkopi Wash and the Colorado. - The use of Painted Desert 
as a geographic term in portions of the Pucrco Valley is not justified. 



44 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

this spring is found. This region has an average elevation of 7,000 
feet, reaching 6,000 feet at its southwestern edge and 7,800 feet on 
its northern border. The Shato Plateau forms the water parting 
for streams flowing northward into the San Juan, westward into 
the Colorado, southwestward via Red LaKe and the Moenkopi into 
the Little Colorado, and eastward through Tyende and Chinle creeks 
into the San Juan. It thus becomes the four-sided roof of the reser- 
vation. The surface of the plateau is marked by wide, flat-floored 
valleys with intervening poorly dissected mesas. At its edges deeply 
cut, box-headed canyons project into the area from all sides. 
Spring-fed streams start at nearly all the canyon heads and continue 
Avith more or less interrupted flow until their master streams are 
reached. The valleys trending south, particularly Shato and Be- 
gashibito, present the abnormal feature of a string of lakes and pools 
separated by drifts of sand. Other pools and tanks occur in the 
washes near the divide. The plateau therefore is provided with 
sufficient water to enable the Indians to utilize the forage which 
is fairly plentiful among the sage and piilon. No white men in- 
habit Shato Plateau and no feasible road traverses it. Ruined 
buildings and abandoned fields of an ancient people are to be found 
along the watercourses, and within the National Monument on Keet 
Seel is included one of the best-preserved cliff villages so far 
described.^ 

BAINBOW PLATEAU. 

The most inaccessible, least known, and roughest portion of the 
Navajo Reservation is bounded by the Navajo, Colorado, San Juan, 
and Piute canyons. The region is essentially an area of bare red 
rock forming narrow divides between innumerable canyons 200 to 
2,000 feet deep, which lead directly or by way of Navajo, Piute, and 
San Juan canyons into Colorado River. The plateau is carved with 
incredible intricacy and presents a picture very inadequately repre- 
sented on the Echo Cliffs, Marsh Pass, Henry Mountains, and Esca- 
lante topographic maps of the Geological Survey. Flat-topped 
mesas, standing at 6,000 feet in the vicinity of Tower Butte, between 
Navajo Canyon and the Utah line, mark the old surface into which 
the canyons have been sunk, and above the plateau surface rises the 
solitary dome of Navajo Mountain to a height of 4,000 feet — 10,416 
feet above sea level. The canyons cut in the red sandstone of the 
La Plata group are 600 to 1,000 feet deep and are so closely spaced 
that interstream mesas are but slightly developed. Buttes, mesas, 
and small domes predominate and are so tightly packed that the 
base of one flattened dome of erosion butts against that of its neigh- 
bor. The deep canyon trenches are practically impassable and the 

1 Fewkes, J. W., rreliminary report on a visit to the Navajo National Monument, xlriz. : 
Bur. Am. Ethnology Bull. 50, 1911. 



GEOGRAPHIC PROVINCES. 45 

buttresses flanking the cathedral spires are so narrow, smooth, and 
rounded that passage from one to another and access to the capping 
mesas have so far not been attained. Whether the ancient cliff 
dwellers made use of these mesa tops is yet undetermined. 

The bare red rock walls of many of the canyons are beautifully 
carved. Among the features represented are natural bridges, one 
of which spans Bridge Canyon (Navajo, Nonnezoshiboko, great 
arch) as a symmetrical arch of red sandstone and has received the 
Piute name of Barohoini, the Kainbow.^ The bridge has a span 
of 274 feet and rises 308 feet above the canyon floor (PI. XIII, A). 

Water is plentiful in the streams flowing north from Navajo 
Mountain, and springs occur at long intervals about the moun- 
tain's base. Water may be found also in Piute and Navajo canyons 
and about the ancient ruins between the heads of these canyons. 
Elsewhere water, when present, is hidden away in almost inaccessible 
spots, and the experience of my party indicates that exploration in 
this canyoned land may be accompanied by hardships. Probably 40 
per cent of the Kainbow Plateau is practically without vegetation, 
but between the ledges grass grows luxuriantly, except near the 
springs at the southwest base of the mountain. Scattering pihons 
find room on mesa and canyon walls, and a variety of shrubs are 
found along the floor of the deep canyons. 

NAVAJO MOUNTAIN-. 

Navajo Mountain is the commanding feature of Rainbow Plateau.^ 
Under the name "" Sierra Panoche " this eminence is indicated on 
the Macomb-Newberry map of 1859. These explorers saw the moun- 
tain from a distance of 75 miles at a point between Monticello and 
Bluff. Button describes the setting of Navajo Mountain as seen 
from the Utah plateaus: 

Far to tlie southeastward, upon tlie horizon, rises a gigantic dome of wonder- 
fully symmetric and simple form. It is the Navajo Mountain. Conceive a 
segment of a sphere cut off by a plane through the seventieth parallel of lati- 
tude and you have its form exactly. From whatsoever quarter it is viewed, it 
always presents the same profile. It is quite solitary, without even a foothill 
for society, and its very loneliness is impressive.^ 

At nearer approach the sides are seen to be cut into vertical canyons 
and deep gorges by drainage lines. In places, particularly on the 

1 The existence of this bridge was reported to me in July, 1909, by John Wetherill, who 
received his information from a Piute herdsman. A visit to this locality during this year 
was prevented by other obligations. In August, 1909, Mr. W. B. Douglass, of the General 
Land Office, in company with Prof. Byron Cummings, of the University of Utah, were con- 
ducted to the bridge by Wetherill and Colville, of Oljeto. So far as known the Rainbow 
had not been viewed by white men before that date. This bridge has been described by my 
assistant, Joseph E. Pogue (The great Rainbow Natural Bridge : Nat. Geog. Mag., vol. 22, 
pp. 1048-1056, 1911). 

2 The topographic map of Navajo Mountain gives a very imperfect representation of its 
contour. 

3 Button, C. E., Geology of the high plateaus of Utah : U. S. Geog. and Geol. Survey 
Rocky Mtn. Region, pp. 290-291, 1880. 



46 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

southeast, the outline is subdued because of the presence of enormous 
deposits of material in the form of fans, alluvial slopes, and rock 
streams. The less eroded parts of the top of the mountain present 
a plateau with flaring edges Avhich are scalloped by canyon walls. 
The short canyons, with steep gradients, leading northward and 
northwestward removed about equal amounts of material, so that 
these sides of the mountain present a sloping plain. A stream lead- 
ing southwest has cut far into the heart of the mass, so that the top 
presents the outlines of a gigantic horseshoe. The higher parts of 
the mountain consist of low ridges, imperfectly drained flats, small 
cliffs, and miniature canyons cut in quartzite, and this material has 
been so broken along joint planes by frost that areas acres in extent 
are covered with piles of angular blocks so large as to practically pro- 
hibit travel over them. The slopes of the minor ridges are strewn 
with bowlders, and in three localities these fragments of quartzite 
are arranged as rock flows, extending down the slope for 200 to 300 
feet and forming at the base ridges with much the appearance of 
glacial moraines. 

In addition to being the highest point on the reservation, the 
position of Navajo Mountain on the very edge of the Glen Canyon 
of the Colorado (3,400 feet above sea) gives its summit the advan- 
tage of a wider viewpoint than that afforded by any other height 
on the Colorado Plateau. The grandeur and beauty of the erosive 
work of streams can nowhere be better observed. The panorama 
observed from the top of the mountain leaves a lasting impression 
on the mind. From selected spots an uninterrupted sweep of vision 
may be had of all points of the compass. Lookout Ridge, extending 
westward from the mountain summit, is particularly well placed 
for comprehensive views. Toward the northeast the highland sur- 
mounted by the beautiful dome of Aba jo is plainly visible at a dis- 
tance of 80 miles; on the north the Henry Mountains dominate the 
landscape, and a little to the west the great cliff-bordered table of 
the Aquarius Plateau stands outlined against the higher plateau 
districts of central Utah. Nearer at hand in the same dire^l^on is 
the little-known Kaiparowitz Plateau, and in still nearer view the 
canyons of San Juan and Colorado rivers are so clearly outlined 
that sand bars and patches of vegetation are distinctly visible 
from this distance. To the west are seen the Vermilion Cliffs, the 
tangle of canyons at the junction of the Little Colorado with its 
master stream, and the blue sky line of the Coconino and Kaibab 
plateaus. Still farther toward the southwest San Francisco Moun- 
tain stands high above its plateau floor and justifies its position in 
Navajo myths as one of the supports on which the vault of heaven 
rests. To the south and southeast the Black Mesa forms the horizon, 
while nearer at hand Segi IMesas and the labyrinth of canyons tribu- 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 380 PLATE XIII 




A. RAINBOW BRIDGE, BRIDGE CANYON. 




B. VEGETATION AT NASJA (OWL) BRIDGE, ON THE NORTH SLOPE OF 
NAVAJO MOUNTAIN. 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 380 PLATE XIV 




A. COMB MONOCLINE EAST OF MARSH PASS. 




B. KEET SEEL CLIFF RUIN, IN BRANCH OF LAGUNA CANYON. 



GEOGEAPHIC PEOVINCES. 47 

tary to the Piute and Navajo cut the surface into tables, ridges, and 
minute domes of painted rock. 

In marked contrast to the Eainbow Plateau, Navajo Mountain is 
covered with vegetation. Above an elevation of 7,000 feet there is 
an open stand of yellov7 pine, with trees ranging in diameter from 6 
inches to 2 feet, averaging perhaps 10 inches, and attaining a height 
or 50 or 60 feet. Pihon and juniper form a belt surrounding the 
mountain at an elevation below 7,000 feet. The yellow pine covers 
the mountain, in general, and is particularly well developed on the 
eastward and northward facing slopes and in open swales below 9,000 
feet. This forest could furnish a timber supply if needed, but there 
is no likelihood that it will ever be made of use. Eed fir is found in 
a few localities, and Rocky Mountain fir was noted on some of the 
higher slopes. Aspen is fairly abundant in side valleys and rock 
slopes, and trees of this species 1 inch to 10 inches in diameter occur 
even on the extreme top. Willows are found in the wetter valley 
basins. Wild roses, manzanita, a primrose of unusual beauty, flax, 
the Indian paintbrush, sage, and clematis indicate that this is but an 
island in the sea of vegetation characteristic of the Southwest, and 
the ground juniper gives a suggestion of the flora of New England. 
(See PI. XIII, B.) 

War God Spring, on a bench facing the southeast at an elevation 
of 8,600 feet, is an excellent water supply. Its source is in deep talus 
at the head of a broad, flat valley. The water is clear, has a tempera- 
ture of 47°, and flows in sufficient abundance to supply a small 
stream, which, however, continues but a short distance down the 
mountain flank. The spring with its small stream furnishes an ideal 
camping spot. 

In 1910 our party had the pleasure of making the first geologic 
study of Navajo Mountain, a project not heartily approved by the 
Indians. To the Navajo the mountain has sacred associations, and 
the presence in this vicinity of a few renegade Piutes still further 
tends to discourage settlement.^ No Indians were seen about Navajo 
Mountain in either 1910 or 1913, and it is probable that less than 100 
Indians make their home on Eainbow^ Plateau. 

SEGI MESAS. 

The highland between Piute and Laguna (upper Tyende) canyons 
on the west and Monument Valley on the east reaches its highest 
point in Skeleton Mesa (7,790 feet). The summit mesa is flanked on 
the east by Tyende, Azansosi, and Hoskininni mesas, lying 1,000 
feet below the upper level. These mesas in turn lie 1,000 feet above 
the floor of upper Moonlight Valley (Navajo, Oljeto). The east 
face of Segi Mesas thus presents the appearance of a stairway of 
two wide treads separated by tw^o risers 1,000. feet in height. The 

1 The Navajo term for the mountain is Na-dis-an, "the enemies' hiding place." 



48 THE I^AVAJO COUNTKY. 

whole region is a series of mesas piled on mesas, surrounded and in- 
tersected by chasms attaining maximum depths exceeding 1,200 feet. 
Both the north and south ends of the long, narrow mesas are pene- 
trated by canyons, and the streams flowing eastward have cut far 
back, leaving but fragments of the tables in place. Between the 
heads of Tyende and Piute creeks the surface is marked by shallow 
Avide-floored canyons, above which rise Zilnez and similar erosion 
remnants, whose preservation is due to resistant strata of limestone. 
A perennial stream occupies Laguna, Copper, and Nokai canyons, 
and living water, fed by springs, flows for short distances in many 
other channels. At the time the topographic map was made (1883) , 
Laguna Canyon held a number of lakes which have disappeared in 
consequence of recent deep trenching of the alluvial fill. The can- 
yons of Segi Mesas were the home of the most populous center of 
cliff dwellers to be found on the Navajo Eeservation (PL XIV, B). 
Many of the houses are in an excellent state of preservation, and few 
of them have been studied by archeologists.^ The descendants of 
the cliff dwellers n© longer occupy this country. In their place are 
groups of Navajos who use the excellent forage of the mesas to sup- 
port thousands of sheep. The Segi Mesas may be reached readily 
from Tyende, and offer an attractive field for geographic and arch- 
eologic research. 

MONUMENT VALLEY. 

Monument Valley is triangular in shape. Its north boundary is 
San Juan River, and its west, Segi Mesas. The triangle is closed by 
Comb Ridge, a remarkable wall formed of the upturned edges of 
strata extending in a curved line from Marsh Pass to the mouth of 
^he Chinle (PI. XIV, A). The floor of the valley is a dome rising 
gradually from 4,800 feet in Gypsum Valley to 5,200 feet at the 
Monuments, then again descending, toward the west, to 4,800 feet in 
the upper Moonlight Valley, following the dip of the strata. On 
the valley floor rest mesas and buttes ranging from spires to flat- 
topped masses several square miles in area. The most conspicuous 
erosion features are the " monuments," Avhich rise nearly 1,000 feet 
above the crest of the dome (PI. XV, A). Igneous masses also 
dot the surface and find their best expression in Agathla, a spire 
which rises 1,225 feet above the plain at its base — the most impres- 
sive of all volcanic necks within the Navajo country (PI. XV, B). 

Monument Valley is well supplied with grass, but poorly supplied 
with w^ater suitably located for sheep raising. As a cattle country, 
hoAvever, it has no superior within the limits of the reservation. The 
water from Segihatsosi and Moonlight, from the Tyende, and from 
the few^ springs is highly satisfactory, but the water in the chief 

1 For a description of three large cliff ruins of this region, and for a map showing the 
correct location of canyons tributary to Laguna, see Fewkes, J. W., Navajo National 
Monument, Ariz. : Bur. Am. Ethnology Bull. 50, 1911. 



CLIMATE. 49 

stream of the valley, Gypsum Creek, is unpalatable for man or beast. 
No white settlements exist within Monument Valley, but stores and 
the Government station at Tyende and the trading posts at Mexican 
Water and Round Rock are within reach of the few Navajos and 
Piutes, who make this valley their home. 

CLIMATE. 

GENERAL CONDITIONS. 

As the Navajo Reservation is outside the usual path of cyclonic 
storms the procession of high and low barometer, warm and cold 
" spells," and wet and dry periods which characterizes the climate of 
most other parts of the United States is absent. There is a difference 
of about 2° 21' of latitude between the southern and the northern 
edges of the area, but the influence of this factor is so completely 
nullified by topography that Hite, 40 miles north of the reservation 
line, in latitude 37° 50', is warmer and dryer than Holbrook, in lati- 
tude 34° 55'. Topography, in fact, may be considered the primary 
factor in the climate of the Navajo country. Fort Defiance, eleva- 
tion 6,900. -± feet, is colder and wetter than Holbrook, Tuba, and 
Aneth, at an elevation 2,000 feet lower. In the Little Colorado 
Valley group of meteorologic stations. Flagstaff, elevation 6,907 feet, 
has Si rainfall of 23.87 inches and a mean annual temperature of 
44.7° ; Holbrook, elevation 5,069 feet, has 9.16 inches of rain and a 
mean annual temperature of 54.2° ; and Winslow, elevation 4,853 
feet, follow^s with an annual rainfall of about 7 inches and a mean 
annual temperature of over 55°. 

A snowfall of 2 inches per year is normal for Holbrook, eleva- 
tion 5,069 feet; the corresponding figure for St. Michaels, elevation 
6,900 feet, is 46.1 inches. At elevations on the reservation above 7,000 
feet snow may fall at any time between October 1 and June 1, and 
may remain on the ground for days or even weeks. My Indian guide 
states that in some years snow lies on Navajo Mountain, 10,416 feet, 
well into July, and San Francisco Mountain, 12,611 feet, retains its 
snow in protected places throughout the year. The general effect 
of elevation is greatly modified by secondary topographic features. 
The climate of the floor of a canyon may be quite unlike that of the 
canyon rim, and the cliff dwellers long ago learned that one canyon 
Avail offers favorable home sites not afforded by the opposite wall. 

Clear skies prevail in this region. Flagstaff, 40 miles west of the 
reservation line, receives 81 per cent of the possible sunshine, and it 
has been estimated by the United States Weather Bureau that north- 
ern Arizona as a whole has, on the average, 210 clear days, 85 partly 
cloudy, and 70 cloudy days in the year. During May, June, October, 
and November the skies may be cloudless for 5 to 15 days in succes- 
sion. In the sun the heat of summer is intense; in the shade of a 
rock or tree coolness prevails; and, unlike humid regions, the line 
33033°— wsp 380— 16 4 



50 THE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 

between scorching heat and delightful temperatures is sharply 
draAvn at the edge of a. shadow. 

The topography is so varied that in the absence of cyclonic storms 
the region may be said to have a group of local climates of widely 
dissimilar aspect. The daily range of temperature is over 40°, and 
usually exceeds the difference between the means of the warmest and 
of the coldest months in the year, and, consequently, cool or even 
uncomfortably cold nights follow the heated day. 

In general, the keynote of the climate of the Navajo country is 
variability. Canyon adjoining plateau, two adjoining valleys, the 
opposite sides of mountains and mesas, and even opposing canyon 
walls may have different climates. The summers are very hot ; the 
winters are very cold ; daylight is accompanied by heat ; darkness by 
chilliness. The annual, seasonal, monthly, and daily rainfall is sub- 
ject to wide variations. During July and August rain falls in quan- 
tities sufficient to flood the country ; in other months precipitation is 
deficient. 

PRECIPITATION. 
RECORDS. 

Miscellaneous observations on rainfall for the Navajo country are 
contained in the reports of the earlier scientific explorers and the 
records of the War Department. After the army post was estab- 
lished at Fort Defiance, in 1852, rainfall was measured for eight 
years (1853-1860). At this place or at St. Michaels complete records 
are available for the 16-year period 1898 to 1913. If Fort Defiance 
and St. Michaels are treated as one station, they furnish a longer con- 
tinuous record than any other station in the Navajo country. At 
Holbrook the precipitation was recorded for 19 years, including one 
period of 12 consecutive years (1888 to 1899). The records for 
Keams Canyon include 5 complete years, of which 4 are consecutive ; 
those for Winslow include 4 complete and 2 consecutive years; Tuba, 
7 complete, 5 consecutive years; Fruitland, 5 complete, 2 consecutive 
years ; Aneth, 5 complete, 3 consecutive years ; and Plite, 9 complete, 
4 consecutive years. These records are too fragmentary for general 
climatic studies; they suffice, however, to indicate the quality of 
the rainfall. Care has therefore been taken to obtain from published 
and unpublished documents significant material relating to precipita- 
tion in this area. It should be remembered that all observations have 
been made by voluntary observers, without whose unselfish services a 
discussion of the climate of northern Arizona and southern Utah 
would be wholly speculative. These records enable those interested 
in water development and agriculture to plan intelligently, for they 
indicate in a general way the total precipitation, its distribution with 
reference to the growing season for crops, and whether showers of 
brief duration or long-continued " soaking '' rains normally occur. 



CLIMATE. 



61 



Records of precipitation in the Navajo country. 

Fort Deflance and St. Michaels. Ariz. 
[On tbe edge of Defiance Plateau. Elevation, 6,900 ± feet.] 



Year. 


Jan. 


Feb. 


Mar. 


Apr. 


May. 


June. 


July. 


Aug. 


Sept. 


Oct. 


Nov. 


Dec. 


Annual. 


1853 


























13.87 


1854 


























22.44 


1855 


























17.07 


1856 


























11.63 


1857 . . 


























13.06 


1858 


























11.97 


1859 


























11.44 


i860 


























11.84 


1881 


0.98 


0.70 


0.84 


0.67 


0.52 


2.44 


0.00 
1.42 
1.97 
4.03 

.20 
2.24 

.22 

.55 
2.51 
1.11 
1.13 
1.92 

.79 
2.46 
3.01 
4.17 
1.33 

.95 


2.73 
1.36 
2.53 
1.73 
.62 
.99 
2.81 
4.03 
3.34 
.98 
2.08 
3.70 
2.96 
5.75 
1.04 
1.35 
1.11 
3.18 


i.S6 
3.06 

.16 

.78 
1.82 

.35 
1.00 
2.51 

.55 
2. .55 
1.70 

.56 
1.18 
1.87 

.67 
1.88 

Tr. 
3.50 


0.70 

1.53 

.00 

1.05 

.65 

.65 

.50 

.00 

.20 

.13 

^ .45 

2. 10 

.39 

.09 

1.13 

2.65 

2.03 

1.25 


1.16 

.46 
1.10 

.60 
.70 
.40 

1.80 
.00 
.00 

3.58 

1.37 
.56 
.74 
.48 
.84 
Tr. 
Tr. 

1.55 


0.87 
1.15 
1.40 
.80 
Tr. 
.43 
1.05 
.02 
.87 
1.21 
1.93 
.60 
1.80 
1.66 
1.26 
.65 
.05 
1.74 


14.21 


1897 




1898 


2.00 
.80 
Tr. 

1.40 

1.31 
.42 
.00 

2.20 
.13 
.89 
.50 
.60 
.74 

1.87 
Tr. 
.08 


.25 
2.20 

Tr. 
2.40 

.65 
2.47 

.42 
3.62 
1.13 

.79 
1.59 

.68 

.13 
2.36 

.10 
5.81 


1.04 

.25 

.80 

.17 

1.03 

1.85 

.75 

1.76 

1.41 

1.13 

.66 

.61 

.50 

1.91 

1.77 

.94 


.31 
Tr. 

1.36 
.90 
.30 
.85 
.05 

2.61 
.33 
.74 
.86 
.31 
.38 
.74 
.55 
.37 


.28 
.02 
.17 
3.38 
1.50 
1.14 
1.90 
.20 
.17 
.34 
.53 
.08 
.05 
Tr. 
Tr. 
Tr. 


.75 
.37 
.20 
.02 
.70 
4.67 
.55 
.70 
.00 
.34 
.15 
Tr. 
.76 
.70 
.96 
Tr. 


11.78 


1899 


12.63 


1900 

1901 


6.52 
13. 33 


1902 

1903 


12.87 
18.51 


1904 


11.14 


1905 

1900 


20. 65 
11.83 


1907 

1908 


13.67 
12.15 


1909 . - 


14.59 


1910 


10. 51 


1911 


18 28 


1912 


7.90 


1913 


19.37 






Mean 


.82 


1.49 


1.02 


.66 


.60 


.78 


1.11 


2.22 


1.48 


.86 


.85 


.91 


12.80 



Period. 


Mean. 


Total 
amount 
for driest 

year. 


Total 
amoimt 
for wet- 
test year. 


Mean 
snowfall. 


December 


0.91 

.82 
1.49 


Tr. 
Tr. 
Tr. 


1.21 
2.20 
3.62 


5.4 




6.3 


February . 


5 6 






Winter mean 


3.22 


Tr. 


7.03 


17.3 






March 


1.02 
.66 
.60 


0.80 

1.36 

.17 


1.76 

2.61 

.20 


3 6 


April 


2.3 


May.. . 








Spring mean . 


2.28 


2.33 


4.57 


5 9 








.78 
1.11 
2.22 


.20 
.20 
.62 


.70 
1.11 

.98 




July 












Summer mean 


4.11 


1.02 


2.79 








September 


1.48 

.86 

.85 


1.82 
.65 
.70 


2.55 

.13 

3.58 




October . ... 


1 2 


November 


2.2 






Fall mean 


3.19 


3.17 


6.26 


3.4 






Annual mean, . . . 


12.80 


6.52 


20.65 


26 6 







Note.— The records for the years 1853 to 1905 are for Fort Defiance. In 1905 the station was removed to 
St. Michaels. The two places are 8 miles apart and are closely similar in topographic environment. 



52 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 



Records of precipitation in the Navajo country — Continued. 

Keams Canyon, Ariz. 
[In a narrow canyon cut in the southern edge of Black Mesa. Elevation, 6,600 feet.] 



Year. 


Jan. 


Feb. 


Mar. 


Apr. 


May. 


June. 


July. 


Aug. 


Sept. 


Oct. 


Nov. 


Dec. 


Annual. 


1894 

1895 


0.17 
2.73 


0.63 
1.02 
1.01 

.98 
1.73 

.91 

.30 
1.92 

Tr. 
1.71 


0.56 

.09 

3.21 

1.17 

.31 

.47 

.35 

1.57 

2.86 

.38 


0.22 
.19 
.66 
.63 
.57 
.15 

1.50 

"."ss' 

.13 


0.40 
.44 
.05 
.59 
.28 
Tr. 
Tr. 
.00 
.11 
Tr. 


0.00 
.02 
Tr. 
.56 
.00 
Tr. 
.37 

2.26 
.34 
.01 


1.18 

.97 

1.61 

.38 

.78 

2.91 

3.84 

1.87 

2.78 

.87 


1.01 
1.59 
1.76 
2.09 
2.30 
4.14 
1.71 
.89 
.83 
1.87 


0.30 


0.73 


0.00 


1.78 


6.98 


1906 


.83 

.18 
1.41 

.80 
1.23 
1.55 

.01 


.10 
1.93 
1.63 

.00 

.84 
2.18 
3.17 


2.33 
.63 
.43 
.90 

1.73 
.05 


2.99 

.30 

3.76 

2.15 

.68 
.48 
.25 




1907 


1.14 
.91 
.55 
1.30 
1.29 
.15 
.60 

.88 


10.58 


1908 


14.11 


1909 


12.98 


1910 - - 


13.85 


1911 




1912 




1913 
















Mean 


1.02 


1.09 


.49 


.18 


.35 


1.71 


1.71 


.63 


1.05 


.60 


1.23 


10.94 



Period. 


Mean. 


Total 
amount 
for driest 

year. 


Total 
amount 
for wet- 
test year. 


Mean 
snowfall. 


December. 


1.23 

.88 
1.02 


1.78 
.17 
.63 


3.76 

.91 

1.73 


5 7 


January 


1 


February . . . 


1 5 








3.13 


2.58 


6.40 


8 2 






March .. ... . 


1.09 
.49 
.18 


.56 
.22 
.40 


.31 

.57 

.28 


7 6 


April 


1 6 


May-. 








Spring mean 


1.76 


1.18 


1.16 


9.2 




.35 
1.71 
1.71 


.00 
1.18 
1.01 


.00 

.78 
2.30 




July .. 














3.77 


2.19 


3.08 










.63 

1.05 

.60 


.30 
.73 
.00 


1.41 

1.63 

.43 




October 


4 


November 


5 3 








2.28 


1.03 


3.47 


9 3 






Annual mean 


10.94 


4.98 


14.11 


26 7 







CLIMATE. 



53 



Records of precipitation in the Navajo country — Continued. 

Holbrook, Ariz. 

[On the flood plain of Little Colorado River. Elevation, 5,069 feet.] 



Year. 


Jan. 


Feb. 


Mar. 


Apr. 


May. 


June. 


July. 


Aug. 


Sept. 


Oct. 


Nov. 


Dec. 


Annual 


1888 


1.00 
.30 
.60 
.20 

1.10 
.10 
.02 

2.46 
.15 

1.63 

1.00 
.40 
.04 


L18 
.29 
.25 

1.78 
.90 
.02 
.61 
.22 
.23 
.67 
.11 
.17 
.14 


1.24 
.80 

.75 
1.24 

!44 
.16 
Tr. 
.17 

.48 
.90 
.03 
.68 


0.76 
.10 

1.01 
.00 
.19 
.00 
.57 
.30 
.17 
.16 
.76 
.00 

1.51 


0.29 
.09 
.00 
.52 
.17 

L39 
.11 
.31 
Tr. 
.13 
.26 
.10 
.09 


0.05 
.20 
.00 
.00 
Tr. 
.04 
.13 
.11 
.06 
.08 
.53 
.30 
.05 


0.68 
2.06 
1.32 

.36 
1.64 
1.65 
1.01 

.85 
2.36 

.77 
1.33 
L18 


0.74 

1.20 

2.57 

.99 

.47 

2.76 

.88 

.70 

.63 

.45 

1.96 

.98 


0.87 
.67 

1.32 
.78 
.11 
.95 

1.48 
.62 

1.33 

L58 
.08 
.05 


0.50 
.49 
.62 
.00 
.74 
.03 
.83 
1.24 
1.51 
.91 
.00 
.65 


2.20 
.50 

2.08 
.00 
.14 
.30 
.00 

3.58 
.02 
Tr. 
.13 
.42 


1.31 

.91 
1.82 
.89 
.16 
.08 
.43 
.00 
.38 
.34 
1.15 
.30 


10.82 


1889 


7.61 


1890 


12.34 


1891 


5.76 


1892 .... 


6.31 


1893 


7.75 


1894 


6.23 


1895 


10.39 


1890 


7.01 


1897 


7.20 


1898 

1899 


8.21 
4.58 


1900 




1901 
















1902 






. 






















1903' ... 


















i.27 
Tr. 

1.37 
.34 
.43 
.26 
.31 
.07 

2.70 
.00 

1.13 


.00 

.19 

.05 

Tr. 

3.44 

1.31 

.00 

.09 

1.07 

1.80 

.67 


.00 

.00 

3.82 

1.22 

1.40 

.20 

.15 

1.33 


.00 

.10 

1.11 

2.32 

Tr. 




1904 


.19 
1.29 
1.12 
1.64 

.67 

.44 
1.12 

.72 


.37 

2.98 
.23 
.44 

1.49 
.17 
.16 

1.10 
.05 

1.48 


.28 
2.93 
.46 
.71 
.52 
.35 
.54 
.18 
1.03 
.02 


.00 

L57 

.50 

.85 
.87 
.67 
.55 
.55 
1.44 
Tr. 


.61 
Tr. 
.17 
.73 
.66 
.00 
.00 
.00 
Tr. 


Tr. 
.10 
.00 
.54 
.24 
.02 
.41 
.32 
.60 
Tr. 


.06 
1.65 
1.11 
3.09 
2.15 
3.99 
2.63 
4.04 
2.27 
2.04 


3.30 

.76 

1.25 

1.89 

2.71 

2.70 

1.03 

.74 

L72 

.50 


5.20 


1905 


17.63 


1903 


8.72 


1907 


15.16 


1903 




1903 


1.27 
.21 


10.07 


1910 

1911 


8.14 


1912 


.00 
.30 


.11 




1913 


.12 


6.26 






Mean 


.75 


.65 


.63 


.54 


.24 


.16 


1.75 


1.41 


.81 


.74 


.86 


.61 


9.15 



Period. 


Mean. 


Total 
amount 
for driest 

year. 


Total 
amount 
for wet- 
test year. 


Mean 
snowfall. 


December 


0.61 
.75 
.65 


0.30 
.40 
.17 


1.11 
1.29 
2.98 


1.80 


January 


.50 


February 


.50 






Winter mean 


2.01 


.87 


5.38 


2 80 






March 


.63 
.54 
.24 


.03 
.00 
.10 


2.93 
1.57 
Tr. 


1 20 


April 


6.00 


May 








Spring mean 


1.41 


.13 


4.50 


7.20 








.16 
1.75 
1.41 


.30 
L18 

.98 


.10 

L65 

.76 




July 




August 








Summer mean . . . . 


3.32 


2.46 


2.51 








September 


.81 
.74 
.86 


.05 
.65 
.42 


1.37 

.05 

3.82 




October 




November 








Fall mean 


2.41 


1.12 


5.24 








Annual mean 


9.15 


4.58 


17.63 


10.00 







54 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 



Records of precipitation in the Navajo country — Continued. 
Winslow, Ariz. 
[On a terrace about 50 feet above the bed of Little Colorado River. Elevation, 4,853 feet. 



Year. 


Jan. 


Feb. 


Mar. 


Apr. 


May. 


June. 


July. 


Aug. 


Sept. 


Oct. 


Nov. 


Dec. 


Annual. 


1892 .... 




1.20 


0.75 


Tr. 


0.40 


0.20 


0.80 




Tr. 


0.55 


0.10 






1898 




0.85 
Tr. 
Tr. 
4.38 
1.74 
.20 
.20 




1899 

1900 


1.07 
.06 


.30 

.44 


Tr. 
.40 


.00 

.84 


Tr. 
.53 


.75 
.08 


Tr 
.20 


1.07 
1.73 


0.10 
.46 


.98 
.89 
1.18 
.00 
.03 


.18 
.20 
.15 

.75 
.86 


4.45 
5.83 


190S . . . 




1909 


1.48 

1.66 

.84 

.00 

.00 


.85 

.40 

1.35 

.00 


.49 

.40 

1.33 

1.30 

.03 


.13 
.20 
.36 
.70 


.02 
Tr. 
.00 
.00 


Tr. 
.41 


1.75 
.60 


2.79 
2.52 
1.28 


.22 

.13 

2.41 


10.22 


1910 


7 41 


1911 




1912 












1913 








































Mean 


.73 


.57 


.59 


.32 


.13 


.36 


.67 


1.34 


.47 


.52 


.32 


1.05 


7.07 



Period. 


Mean. 


Total 
amount 
for driest 

year. 


Total 
amount 
for wet- 
test year. 


Mean 
snowfall. 




1.05 
.73 

.57 


Tr. 

1.07 

.30 


1.74 

1.48 
.85 




January 




February 








Winter mean 


2.35 


1.37 


4.07 








March 


.59 
.32 
.13 


Tr. 
.00 
Tr. 


.49 






.13 


.. . 


May 


.02 






Spring mean 


1.04 


.00 


.64 1 






June 


.36 

.67 

1.34 


.75 
Tr. 
1.07 


Tr. 
1.75 
2.79 




July 














2.37 


, 1.82 


4.54 










.47 
.52 
.32 


.10 

.98 
.18 


.22 
.00 

.75 




October 














1.31 


1.26 


.97 










7.07 


4.45 


10.22 









CLIMATE. 



65 



Records of precipitation in the Navajo country — Continued. 

Tuba, Ariz. 

[On the edge of Kaibito Plateau overlooking the T;ittle Colorado Valley. Elevation, about 4,700 feet.] 



Year. 


Jan. 


Feb. 


Mar. 


Apr. 


May. 


June. 


July. 


Aug. 


Sept. 


Oct. 


Nov. 


Dec. 


Annual. 


1897 








0.09 
".'56' 


0.26 
.75 
.00 


Tr. 


0.19 


0.25 


1.34 


1.73 


0.55 
.06 
.26 
Tr. 
Tr. 
.97 


0.25 
.58 
Tr. 
.00 
.00 
.15 




ISO'^ 


0.78 
.04 
.15 
.83 
.10 
.00 


0.12 
.02 
Tr. 
.73 
Tr. 
.20 


Tr. 
.20 
.60 
.20 
.45 
.44 
.16 
.96 
1.59 
.23 

'"."37' 

.44 

.92 

1.43 

.31 




ISC'* 


.49 


Tr. 


.87 


.00 


.25 

1.46 

.30 


8 38 


1901 




1901 


"".'66' 

.38 

.00 

2.58 

.19 


Tr. 
.15 
Tr. 
.15 


Tr. 
Tr. 
.75 
.11 


.45 
.37 
.60 
.96 


.09 
.67 


.00 

.08 




1902 




1903 




190 ^ 


1.59 


.20 


.30 


.00 
2.32 
2.92 






1905 


1.45 
.53 

2.00 
.40 

.62 
.25 
.87 
Tr. 
.34 


1.21 
.34 

.38 
1.61 

.72 

.53 
1.14 

Tr. 
2.03 


.90 

2.23 

.42 

1.77 

1.54 

.39 

.05 

.82 

.42 




190;'. -. 

1907 


.34 


.00 


1.73 


1.26 


1.37 


.07 


12.57 


190S 


.63 
.41 
.42 
.05 
.86 
.12 


.16 
.20 
.05 
.00 
.02 
Tr. 


.32 
Tr. 
.75 
.39 
.15 
-.17 


.35 

.54 

.89 

1.90 

.98 
.58 


1.24 
1.66 
.34 
.37 
.35 
.49 


.27 
.56 
.16 
1.98 
.03 
.62 


.30 

1.10 

.15 

1.46 

1.84 

.66 


.37 
.30 
1.23 
Tr. 
.01 
.85 




1909 


8 32 


1910 


5.60 


1911 


8 33 


1912 


6.49 


1913 


6.69 


Llean 


.49 


.52 


.48 


.37 


.11 


.18 


.56 


.54 


.35 


.56 


.58 


.56 


5.30 



Period. 


Mean. 


Total 
amount 
for driest 

year. 


Total 
amount 
for wet- 
test year. 


Mean 
snowfall. 


December. 


0.56 
.49 
.52 


0.39 
.25 
.53 


2.23 
.53 
.34 


10.0 


January 




February 


6.2 








1.57 


1.17 


3.10 


16.2 






March 


.48 
.37 
.11 


.44 

..42 

.05 


1.59 
.19 
.34 




April 




May 








Spring mean 


.96 


.91 


2.12 








June 


.18 
.56 
.54 


.75 
.89 
.34 


.00 
1.73 
1.26 




July 




August 








Summer mean . 


1.28 


1.98 


2.99 








September . . . . 


.35 

.56 
.58 


.16 

.15 

1.23 


1.37 

.07 

2.92 




October TTT. 












Fall mean 


1.49 


1.54 


4.36 








Annual mean 


5.30 


5.60 


12.57 


16.2 







66 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 



Records of precipitation in the Navajo country — Continued. 

Chinle, Ariz. 

[At the east side of Chinle Valley at the base of Defiance Plateau. Elevation, about 5,200 feet.] 



Year. 


Jan. 


Feb. 


Mar. 


Apr. 


May. 


June. 


July. 


Aug. 


Sept. 


Oct. 


Nov. 


Dec. 


Annual. 


1909 


0.14 

.48 
.03 
.15 


0.25 
1.44 
Tr. 
.74 


0.68 
1.44 
.94 


0.20 
.19 

.65 
.89 


0.01 
.01 
.03 
.02 


Tr. 
.97 
.71 
.26 


2.14 
3.59 
1.02 

1.28 


3.67 

1.40 

1.77 

.51 


1.63 

2.80 

.14 

1.13 


0.00 
1.23 
1.16 
1.56 


0.47 
.05 
.26 

.81 


1.43 

3.96 

.12 

.45 


11 62 


1911 

1912 


17. 56 

5 83 


1913 


7 SO 






Mean 


.20 


.60 


.76 


.48 


.01 


.48 


2.00 


1.83 


1.42 


.96 


.39 


1.49 


10.62 



Period. 


Mean. 


Total 
amoimt 
for driest 

year. 


Total 
amount 
for wet- 
test year. 


Mean 
snowfall. 


December 


1.49 
.20 
.60 


0.12 
.03 
Tr. 


3.96 

.48 
1.44 


4 9 


Januarv 


2 


February 


2 9 






Winter mean 


2.29 


.15 


5.88 


9 8 






March 


.76 
.48 
.01 


.14 

.65 
.03 


1.44 
.19 
.01 


.8 


April 


1 5 


Mav 


Tr 








1.25 


.62 


1.61 


2 3 






June 


.48 
2.00 
1.83 


.11 
1.02 
1.77 


.97 
3.59 
1.40 





July 


.0 


August 











4.31 


3.50 


5.96 







•" 




1.42 
.96 
.39 


.14 
1.16 
.26 


2.80 

1.23 

.05 


.0 


October 







1.7 






FaU mean 


2.77 


.56 


4.08 


1.7 








10.62 


5.83 


17.56 


13.8 







CLIMATE. 



57 



Records of precipitation in the Navajo country — Continued, 

Fruitland. N. Mex. 
[On the flood plain of San Juan River. Elevation, about 5,200 feet.] 



Year. 


Jan. 


Feb. 


Mar. 


Apr. 


May. 


June. 


July. 


Aug. 


Sept. 


Oct. 


Nov. 


Dec. 


Annual . 


1903 


0.09 
.12 
.56 

Tr. 
.12 
.32 
.31 
.29 
.48 
.00 

Tr. 


0.75 

Tr. 

1.15 
.30 
.22 

1.57 
.42 
.22 

1.44 
.13 
.87 


0.10 
.07 
.64 

1.91 
.14 
.01 
.57 
.05 
.69 

1.07 


"Tr." 
2.39 
1.43 

'".'37" 

'i.'oi' 

.50 
.52 
Tr. 


0.03 
1.10 
Tr. 

.06 
.55 
.36 

Tr. 
.00 

Tr. 

Tr. 
.00 


■■fr.'" 

0.95 
.00 
.52 

Tr. 

Tr. 
.25 
.37 
.32 

Tr. 


0.09 

.03 

1.26 

1.05 

1.52 

1.44 

.31 

.90 

4.50 

2.29 

1.57 






0.00 

1.16 

Tr. 

.13 

1.30 

.03 

.02 

1.45 

1.50 

'i."87' 


0.00 
.00 

1.75 

1.18 
.20 

Tr. 
.05 
.67 
.25 

Tr. 

1.87 


Tr. 

0.26 
.15 

1.31 
.44 
.85 
.94 
.32 
.17 
.12 

1.20 




1904 


0.06 
.09 

■2.'26' 
1.06 
2.25 
.48 
.30 
.60 
.51 


0.53 
.23 

1.47 
.20 

Tr. 
.95 
.42 

2.88 
.01 

1.42 


3 33 


1905 


9.17 


1906 




1907 




1908 


6 01 


1909 




1910 


6 09 


1911 


13.08 


1912 




1913 








Mean 


.22 


.63 


.47 


.67 


.19 


.21 


1.34 


.69 


.73 


.67" 


.54 


.53 


6.89 



Period. 


Mean. 


Total 
amount 
for driest 

year. 


Total 
amount 
for wet- 
test year. 


Mean 
snowfall. 




0.53 
.22 
.63 


0.26 
.12 
Tr. 


0.17 

.48 
1.44 


5 20 


January ... 


1 10 




1 00 








1.38 


.38 


2.09 


7 30 






March 


.47 
.67 
.19 


.07 
Tr. 
1.10 


.69 
.50 
Tr. 


1 00 


April 


2 00 


May 


15 








1.33 


1.17 


1.19 


3 15 






June ... 


.21 
1.34 


Tr. 
.03 
.06 


.37 

4.50 

.30 




July 




August 








Summer mean 


. 2.24 


.09 


5.17 








September 


.73 

.67 
.54 


.53 

1.16 

.00 


2.88 

1.50 

.25 




October 




November 


90 






Fall mean. . 


1.94 


1.69 


4.63 


20 






Annual mean 


6.89 


3.33 


13.08 


10 65 







58 



THE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 



Records of precipitation in the Navajo country — Continued. 
Aneth, Utah. 
[On a terrace overlooking San Juan River. Elevation, about 4,700 feet.] 



Year. 


Jan. 


reb. 


Mar. 


Apr. 


May. 


June. 


July. 


Aug. 


Sept. 


Oct. 


Nov. 


Dec. 


Annual 


1901 


1.06 
.06 
.11 
.05 

1.67 
.29 
.85 
.51 
.09 
.25 


0.86 
.19 
.50 
.07 

1.71 
Tr. 
.41 
.83 
.05 

1.12 


0.33 

.46 
1.54 

.10 
1.02 
1.06 

.72 

.85 
1.57 

.68 


0.18 
.01 
.59 
.03 

1.40 
.55 
.52 

■■.■28' 
.10 


0.30 
.37 
.12 

.62 
.39 

.25 
.85 
.00 
.04 
.20 


0.51 
.00 
.51 

Tr. 

Tr. 
.00 
.54 
.29 
.02 
.00 


1.05 
.19 
.38 


1.46 
1.22 
.04 


0.00 
.35 
.93 


0.36 
.00 
.06 
.50 
.00 
.11 


0.00 
1.36 
.00 
.00 
1.96 
1.01 


0.01 
1.09 
.02 
.28 
.20 
1.08 


6 12 


1902 

1903 

1904 


5.30 
4. SO 


1905 

190n 


.37 
1.20 

.49 
2.40 

.56 
1.02 


.07 
.54 
2.39 
.71 
.30 


1.95 
".■35' 
".'66' 


10.74 


1907 




191 ( 


2.48 
.97 


.12 

.02 


.16 
.10 




191 J 

igia 


4.00 














Mean 


.49 


.58 


.83 


.26 


.31 


.18 


.15 


.66 


.35 


.44 


.44 


.27 


4.96 



Period. 


Mean . 


Total 
amount 
for driest 

year. 


Total 
amount 
for wet- 
test year. 


Mean 
snowfall. 


December 


0.27 
.49 

.58 


0.10 
.09 
.05 


0.20 
1.67 
1.71 








February 








Winter mean 


1.34 


.24 


3.58 








March 


.83 
.26 
.31 


1.57 
.28 
.04 


1.02 

1.40 

.39 








May 








Spring mean 


1.40 


1.89 


2.81 1 








.18 
.15 
.66 


.02 
.56 
.30 


Tr. 
.37 
.07 




July 




August 








Summer mean 


.99 


.88 


.44 










.35 
.44 
.44 


.00 
.97 
.02 


1.95 

.00 

1.96 




October 














1.23 


.99 


3.91 










4.96 


4.00 


10.74 









CLIMATE. 



59 



Records of precipitation in the Navajo country — Continued. 

Hite, Utah. 

[In the canyon of Colorado River at the mouth of Trachyte Creek. Elevation, about 3,500 feet.] 



Year. 


Jan. 


Feb. 


Mar. 


Apr. 


May. 


June. 


July. 


Aug. 


Sept. 


Oct. 


Nov. 


Dec. 


Annual. 


1902 




0.60 
.24 
.60 

1.52 
.22 
.45 

1.43 
.84 
.21 
.78 
.34 
.81 






0.40 
.23 
.84 

1.58 
.45 

1.41 
.28 
.06 
Tr. 
.00 
.12 
Tr. 


0.00 
.50 
.08 
Tr. 
Tr. 
.48 
.14 
.00 
.77 

1.22 
.03 
.05 


0.09 
.63 
.15 
.45 
.45 
1.21 
1.06 
.36 
Tr. 
.04 
.47 
.44 


0.87 
Tr. 
1.06 
.19 
1.28 
1.31 
1.14 
1.05 
.58 
.20 
.14 
.50 


0.65 
.32 
.55 

1.59 

1.84 
.21 
.63 

1.70 
.22 

1.12 
.08 
.62 


Tr. 

Tr. 
0.36 

.15 

.11 

.62 
1.29 

Tr. 

.67- 
2.92 
2.25 

.58 


1.29 
.00 
.00 

3.83 

".'45' 
.18 
.10 
.85 
.15 
.14 
.66 


0.20 
.00 
.25 
Tr. 

.76 

.30 

1.83 

2.27 

.74 
.68 

.48 

.77 




1903 


0.30 
.10 
.76 
.74 
.53 
.31 

1.27 
.97 


0.64 
.45 

1.31 

1.42 
.51 
.84 
.43 
.87 
.53 

2.28 
.28 


0.26 
Tr. 

.98 
.39 
.82 
.20 
.63 
.12 
.35 
.44 
.14 


3.12 


1904 

1905 


4.44 
12.36 


1906 




1907 . . 


8.30 


1908 


9.33 


1909 


3.71 


1910 


6.00 


1911 




1912 


.08 
.31 


6 85 


1913 


5. 16 






Mean 


.48 


.67 


.87 


.39 


.45 


.27 


.38 


.61 


.73 


.74 


.64 


.69 


6.92 



Period. 


Mean. 


Total 
amount 
for driest 

year. 


Total 
amount 
for wet- 
test year. 


Mean 
snowfall. 


December . 


0.69 

.48 
.67 


0.00 
.30 
.14 


Tr. 
0.76 
1.52 




January . 




February 








Winter mean 


1.84 


.54 


2.28 








March.. 


.87 
.39 
.45 


.64 
.26 
.23 


1.31 

.98 
1.58 




April 




Mky 








Spring mean 


1.71 


1.13 


3.87 








June 


.27 
.38 
.61 


.50 
.63 
Tr. 


Tr. 
.45 
.19 




July 




August 








Summer mean 


1.26 


1.13 


.64 








September 


.73 

.74 
.64 


.32 
Tr. 
.00 


1.59 
.15 

3.83 




October 




November. 








Fall mean 


2.11 


.32 


5.57 








Annual mean 


6.92 


3.12 


12.36 









GEOGRAPPIIC DISTRIBUTION. 



The influence of geographic position on distribution of rainfall 
is apparent on comparison of records of the various stations. In 
the valley of the Little Colorado rainfall is low; at Holbrook, Wins- 
low, and Tuba, with altitudes of 5,069, 4,853, and 4,700 feet, the mean 
annual rainfall is 9.15, 7.07, and 5.30 inches, respectively. At stations 
in the center of the reservation precipitation is heavier than the nor- 
mal for the Little Colorado Valley. The records for Fort Defiance- 
St. Michaels (6,900 feet), Chinle (6,600 feet), and Keams Canyon 
(5,200 feet), on the southern edge of Black Mesa, show, respectively, 
12.80, 10.62, and 10.94 inches. San Juan Valley resembles Little 
Colorado Valley in amount and distribution of rainfall. Fruitland, 
5,200 feet above sea level, receives 6.89 inches of rain : at Aneth, 60 



60 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

miles farther down the stream and 500 feet lower, the record shows 
4.96 inches. The stations at Holbrook, Winslow, Tuba, Aneth, and 
Friiitland are in the plant zone of cottonwood and yucca. Chinle, 
Keams Canyon, and Fort Defiance are in the pihon zone, Fort De- 
fiance being on the immediate border of the zone of yellow pine. It 
is probable that stations on Defiance Plateau, Black Mesa, and in 
the Chuska Mountains would record about 15 inches of rain, and the 
vegetation of Navajo Mountain suggests a rainfall exceeding 20 
inches. On the other hand, the precipitation along the lower course 
of the Little Colorado probably does not exceed 3 inches a year. 

VARIATION FROM YEAR TO YEAR. 

The variation in amount of rainfall from year to year ranges be- 
tween half the normal and twice the normal, measured through a 
period of years (fig. 2). For Fort Defiance the wettest year on 
record is 1854, when 22.44 inches of rain was measured. In the last 
10 years at this station 3 years — 1905, 1911, and 1913 — have been wet, 
the heaviest fall coming in 1905, when the precipitation (20.65 
inches) exceeded the normal by more than 60 per cent. This wet 
3^ear was followed by 3 years of rainfall below the normal. The 
driest season in the last 10 years — 1912, with 7.90 inches — was pre- 
ceded by a 37'ear in which 19.37 inches fell. At Holbrook, where 
the mean of the annual rainfalls is 10.94 inches, 5.20 inches was 
recorded for 1904, and more than three times as much (17.63 inches) 
for 1905. The corresponding figures for Fruitland are 3.33 and 
9.17 inches, and for Hite 4.44 and 12.36 inches. Over the entire 
plateau province 1905 and 1911 were seasons of excessive rainfall, 
causing in the latter year destructive floods in all the larger valleys. 
It is interesting to note, however, that during the flood year of 1911 
the rainfall at Tuba was about normal. 

For a region whose maximum precipitation is insufficient for ag- 
riculture and in places for grazing without irrigation these great 
variations from year to year are matters of concern. Of even 
greater significance are the differences in amount received in corre- 
sponding months from year tO' year (fig. 2). At Fort Defiance the 
precipitation for January ranges from to 2.20; for May, from a 
trace to 3.38; and even for August, the wettest month in the year^ 
from 0.62 to 4.03 inches. At Fort Defiance June is one of the three 
driest months, but the wettest month on record at this station is 
June, 1903, wdien 4.67 inches fell. At Holbrook the precipitation in 
April for different years ranges between and 1.51 inches; the July 
measures are 0.16 and 4.44; and the December precipitation of 2.32 
for 1906 is represented by a " trace " in 1907. At Tuba the differ- 
ence for the months of various years is as follows : January, to 2 



CLIMATE. 



61 



inches; February, " trace " to 2.03 ; March, O.IG 
to 1.59 ; April, to 2.58 ; May, to 0.75 ; June, 
to 0.75; July, 0.19 to 1.90; August, 0.09 to 
1.66; September, to 1.98; October, 0.15 to 
1.84; November, to 2.92; December, to 1.77. 
Similar contrasts occur in the records of other 
stations. 

SEASONAL DISTRIBUTION. 

The diagrams of seasonal distribution of 
rainfall (fig. 3) show that for the Navajo 
country in general summer is the rainy season 
and spring the dry season, and that fall and 
winter occupy intermediate positions. Tuba, 
Aneth, and Hite are exceptions to this rule. 
There is in reality one dry season, followed by 
one wet period, with two seasons of inter- 
mediate grade, which, however, do not corre- 
spond with the seasons as that term is conven- 
tionally used. The period including July, 
August, and September is the season of maxi- 
mum precipitation, during which time 37 per 
cent of the total rain falls ; and the months of 
April, May, and June constitute the driest 
group, with 12 per cent of precipitation. Kain- 
fall during the period January to March is 
slightly greater than for October, November, 
and December, these seasons receiving, respec- 
tively, 25 and 26 per cent of the annual pre- 
cipitation. 

It will be noted that the season of least rain- 
fall, April to June, is the growing season for 
most crops, and that therefore the seasonal 
distribution of rain is unfavorable for agricul- 
ture or for the vigorous reproduction of many 
grasses. Half an inch of rain per month for 
the period April, May, and June is an unusu- 
ally large precipitation for most parts of the 
reservation, and during many years the com- 
bined precipitation of these three months is less 
than one-half inch. Moreover, plants obtain 
only a portion of this meager supply, for 
evaporation is most effective during the clear, 
dry, hot days of early summer. The moisture 
in the ground, supplied by the rains of winter 
supplemented by the scattered showers of 





JAN. 


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FEB. 
MAR. 






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APR. 


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JUNE 


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DEC. 


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mm 




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DEC. 


■MB 



62 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 



spring, is sufficient to allow seeds to germinate and to send their 
stalks above ground, but is insufficient to bring a crop to maturity. 
The rainfall of July becomes therefore the critical climatic factor 
in the life of the Navajo. If his prayers to the rain gods are 
ansAvered his corn crop is assured, and grass springs up from the 






li 



ilLll 



ll 



_" >- o >■ 

fS < =:> O 



r>-"cJ > 
tfS<Z 



CD < :3 O 



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if s< z 



j3 



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5 S d z 2 S _i 
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Z q; S _j 
>fe3< 



$S;5^2 $S<^2: 5Sg2 5S5S2 SSsriS 5«5 
Figure 3. — Diagram showing seasonal distribution of rainfall in the Navajo countrj-. 

desert floors; if his prayer is denied the crop is a failure. The 
tables show that for the periods under observation less than 1 inch 
of rain falls during July in 6 years out of 18 at Fort Defiance and 
St. Michaels, 4 out of 10 at Keams Canyon, 5 out of 22 at Holbrook, 
4 out of 5 at Winslow, 11 out of 13 at Tuba, 4 out of 11 at Fraitland, 
and 5 out of 9 at Aneth. For a large part of the reservation corn, 
without irrigation, fails to mature every second to every fourth year. 



























JULY 


AUGUST 


SEPTEMBB 




b 

I 

5 


.11 


.161 


lit ^ 




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COUNTRY 



. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



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WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 380 PLATE : 



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'- 



DIAGRAM SHOWING DISTRIBUTION OF DAILY RAINFALL IN THE NAVAJO COUNTRY 



1 Doc. : 64th Cong., 



CLIMATE. 63 

In the Painted Desert and on Kaibito Platean natural agriculture is 
not attempted even by the optimistic Navajo. At Chinle, on the 
other hand, an inch or more of rain falls each July, and total fail- 
ures of crops at this point are of rare occurrence. 

CHARACTER OF RAINSTORMS. 

Gentle rains lasting more than 24: hours are of very rare occur- 
rence in the Navajo country. Only one such was experienced dur- 
ing my four seasons' work. The characteristic storm is the thunder- 
shower of extreme violence, lasting usually less than an hour. The 
area covered by the shower is frequently only a few square miles, 
and on two occasions showers of 20 to 30 minutes' duration resulted 
in wetting less than 300 acres. Many of the showers result in a heavy 
downpour, and the total precipitation for a month is not infre- 
quently the result of a single shower. (See PL XVI.) On the other 
hand, during the month of August, 1911, our party experienced show- 
ers for 22 days in succession. These showers occurred regularly be- 
tween 11 o'clock and 1 o'clock, and the precipitation from each shower 
ranged from 0.01 to 0.20 inch. Generally the intense heat preceding 
a shower is reestablished within an hour or two after rain has 
ceased, especially at elevations below 6,000 feet. So quickly is cloth- 
ing dried after one of these showers that it was found unnecessary 
to carry tents even during the rainy season. 

Lightning is the almost invariable accompaniment of summer 
showers and constitutes a real danger to travel. During August, 
1911, six Indians were killed b}^ lightning and on two occasions my 
camp equipage was hit by a bolt. Lightning ranks first as a cause 
of forest fires in this region, and partly burned trees are everyday 
sights in the highland forests. The Weather Bureau station at Flag- 
staff has recorded more than 50 thunderstorms a year for the period 
1904—1911. My records of thunderstorms for the Navajo Reserva- 
tion during the field seasons 1909, 1910, 1911, and 1913 are 38, 26, 33, 
and 23, respectivel}^, and it is believed that the annual number ex- 
ceeds 40 — an estimate much in excess of the figure (20) given by the 
Weather Bureau.^ 

TEMPERATURE. 

The elements of most significance in the temperature of the Navajo 
country are given in the following tables compiled from records ob- 
tained through the United States Weather Bureau, at stations within 
or on the immediate border of the Navajo and Hopi reservations. All 
these stations are in charge of voluntary observers, and many of the 
records are incomplete and some may be inaccurate. The data at 

1 Climatology of the United States : U. S. Weather Bureau Bull. Q, pi. 28, 1906. 



64 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 



hand, however, are considered snfRcient to indicate the value to be 
given to the temperature element in the climate of the Navajo 
Eeservation. The figures represent degrees Fahrenheit. 

Temperature at Fort Deflance-St. Michaels, Ariz., 1899-1913 (except 1910). 
[On the edge of Defiance Plateau. Elevation, 6,9(X)±- feet.] 







1 


'53 








i 

l-s 




^ 
< 


4J 


o 


o 


i 


1 

< 


Mean 


14 
14 
14 
12 
12 


27.9 
35.6 
20.0 
57 
-12 


30.9 
37.4 
19.8 
65 
-24 


38.3 
43.2 
33.4 
75 

1 


43.8 

48.2 

42.2 

78 

12 


52.8 

56.8 

49.4 

85 

20 


62.9 

66.5 

58.4 

98 

26 


68.2 

72.4 

64.4 

97 

31 


66.9 

70.3 

64.6 

96 

39 


54.6 

70.5 

53.7 

86 

22 


44.3 

64.9 

43.0 

78 

10 


38.4 
59.4 
33.2 
65 
-6 


27.1 
51.6 
18.6 
59 
-20 


47 6 


Highest monthly mean 
Lowest monthly mean 
Highest temperature.. 
Lowest temperatiire . . 


63.6 
44.1 
98 
-24 



Note.— Records for the years 1899-1905 were taken at Fort Defiance; those for 1906-1913 at St. Michaels. 
The two stations are 8 miles apart and have nearly identical altitude and topographic setting. 

Days on which temperatures above 90° were recorded are distributed as follows: 1910, May, 2 days; 
June, 3 days; July, 14 days; August, 3 days; September, 1 day. 1911, July, 1 day; August, 5 days. 

Days with temperatures below 15° are: 1910, December, 4 days; January, 18 days; February", 10 days. 
1911, November 8 days; December, 25 days, including a consecutive period Dec. 13-30; January, 7 con- 
secutive days; February, 5 consecutive days. 

Temperature at Holhrook, Ariz., 1891-1900, 1904-1913 (except 1910). 

[Little Colorado Valley. Elevation, 5,069 feet.] 





>-i 


H^ 


i 


^ 
^ 


< 




H^ 


1-5 






O 


> 
o 




1 


Mean 


20 


33.1 


38.7 


45.6 


,'>2.6 


60.2 


65.4 


74.8 


74,5 


67 


53.9 


42.6 


33.0 


54.2 


Highest monthly mean 


20 


41.8 


44.8 


49.6 


56.6 


64.2 


72.4 


79.1 


79.2 


70.5 


56.6 


47.0 


39.2 


63.3 


Lowest monthly mean 


20 


22.0 


34.2 


41.2 


50.2 


57. 


65.0 


71.6 


72.2 


64.6 


.52.0 


38.2 


18.6 


51.9 


Highest temperature. . 


18 


66 


78 


89 


94 


97 


105 


106 


103 


100 


89 


81 


73 


106 


Lowest temperature . . 


18 


-11 


-6 


—4 


13 


21 


29 


44 


45 


27 


16 


-8 


-21 


-21 



Temperature at Reams Canyon, Ariz., 189Jf-95, 1906-1909, 1911-1913. 

[In a narrow canyon cut in the southern edge of Black Mesa. Elevation, 6,600 feet.] 





>-< 








< 


^ 
§ 


t-5 


>. 
S 


< 




O 


i 


d 
ft 


< 


Mean 

Highest monthly mean 

Lowest monthly mean 

Highest temperature 

Lowest temperature 


9 
9 
9 
3 
3 


31.4 

36.8 
25.5 
55 
-2 


34.5 
41.6 

27.8 
67 
-8 


33.9 

4.5. 1 
35.7 
77 
10 


48.5 

49.8 

44.1 

79 

20 


5.5.7 

58.8 

51.7 

80 

27 


61.8 
71.0 
61.8 
90 

28 


60.6 
76.4 
68.0 
101 
43 


69.4 

74.3 

69.0 

92 

43 


61.6 

65.0 

58.0 

90 

25 


52.6 

55.6 
47.8 
89 
17 


40.4 
45.5 
37.0 
72 
9 


30.2 
36.4 
21.7 
60 
3 


51.8 
62.7 
48.2 

101 

-8 



Temperature at Tuba, Ariz., 1897-1913 (except 1910). 



[On the southwest < 



of Kaibito Plateau in the midst of a desert overlooking the Little Colorado Valley. 
Elevation, about 4,700 feet.] 



Mean 

Highest monthly mean . . 
Lowest monthly mean. . . 

Highest tom])erature 

Lowest temperature 



32.7 
4.3.2 
23.2 



38.5 
45.4 
30.2 
73 
-3 



46.1 
54.4 
40.7 

85 
12 



53.8 

58.4 
48.6 
88 
21 



6L6 
65.4 
55.6 



70.9 
76.4 
66.8 
104 
34 



77.0 
82.6 
72.6 
105 
40 



75.2 
77.1 
73.2 

108 
48 



67.1 
76.5 
61. '9 
100 

28 



54.4 

58.8 

49.4 

95 

18 



43.2 

48.3 

35.6 

81 

10 



30.5 
39.2 
21.7 



52.1 
61.5 
34.0 

108 

-13 



CLIMATE. 



65 



Temperature at Chinle, Arts;., 1909, 1912, 1913. 

[On the east side of the broad Chinle Valley, at the mouth of Canyon de Chelly. Elevation, about 5,200 

leet.] 









4 


1 


-1^ 


1 


1^ 




1 


i 


1 


i 


1 


i 


Mean 


3 
3 
3 


29.9 
37.2 
23.2 


33.2 
35.6 
30.6 


26.8 
41.6 
38.9 


47.2 
47.9 
46.0 


57.0 
59.0 
54.9 


66.8 
69.2 
64.6 


70.4 
74.9 
66.4 


69.6 

72.8 
65.6 


58.3 
62.8 
53.4 


33.8 
52.4 
49.0 


40.4 
42.0 
38.0 


23.6 
25.8 
21.3 


49.1 


Highest monthly mean . . . 
Lowest monthly mean 


50.8 
47.8 



Temperature at Fruitland, N. Mex., in San Juan Valley, 1903-1909, 1911-1913. 

[Elevation, about 5,200 feet.] 



Mean 

Highest monthly mean. . 
Lowest monthly mean . . 

Highest temperature 

Lowest temperature 



30.8 
35.6 
25.7 
71 



35.2 
43.4 
26.8 
86 
-14 



43 

47.7 
39.6 
83 



55.6 

52.8 

46.2 

92 

11 



52.1 

61.0 

54.4 

97 

18 



67.3 
68.8 
66.3 
108 
31 



72.5 
74.6 
7L2 
110 
34 



71.5 
74.0 
70.0 
101 
41 



62.5 
67.1 
61.0 
95 

27 



50.5 
52.6 



39.3 
41.8 
36.0 
90 
-1 



26. 
35.0 
18.0 
79 



46.1 
52.6 
43.7 

110 

-14 



Temperature at Hite, Utah, 1900-1909, 1911. 
[In the canyon of the Colorado at the mouth of Trachyte Creek. Elevation, about 3,500 feet.] 





> 


d 


i 


1 


< 


1 


5 


1-3 


<1 


1 


o 


> 
o 


1 


< 


Mean 


11 
11 
11 

9 
9 


32.5 
41.0 
33.5 
63 

2 


43.0 
51.4 
32.4 

81 
6 


51.2 
54.6 
47.0 

86 
18 


59.2 
61.8 
56.2 
94 

28 


66.9 

72.8 
63.1 
98 
48 


68.2 
83.0 
72.4 
111 
59 


84.2 
89.6 
82.1 
115 
65 


82.5 
86.1 
80.2 
110 
62 


72.5 
75.6 
71.8 
104 
48 


53.9 

64.0 

55.1 

91 

29 


45.9 

47.8 
44.3 
76 
20 


31.1 
42.2 
33.2 
76 

7 


60 6 


Highest monthly mean 

Lowest monthly mean 

Highest temperature 

Lowest temperature 


65.1 
58.2 
115 

2 



Temperature at Aneth, Utah, in San Juan Valley, 1901-1907, 1911-1913. 

[Elevation, about 4,700 feet.] 





i 


i 


4 


i 


Ck 


^ 


i 

H-5 


i 


^ 


t 


. 


i 


i 






>< 


>^ 


\^ 


i4 


< 


)4 


< 


czj 


o 


^ 


« 


< 


Mean 


10 


30.3 


37.8 


46 2 


49 1 


62 8 


72 2 


78.8 
81.6 


77.5 
79.7 


67.3 


55.4 
64.1 


42.3 
43.9 


23.8 
39.0 


54.0 
61.3 


Highest monthly mean... 


10 


38.3 


44.4 


51.4 


57.0 


66.3 


74.8 


Lowest monthly mean . . . 


10 


21.0 


27.2 


41.6 


53.0 


60.2 


70.5 


74.4 


76.2 


64.2 


52.4 


39. 5 


25.0 


50.8 


Highest temperature 


8 


63 


77 


83' 


86 


93 


105 


104 


106 


100 


88 


67 


67 


106 


Lowest temperature 


8 


-10 


2 


14 


19 


31 


38 


45 


42 


32 


22 


11 


-2 


-10 



Frost record in the Navajo country 


a 






Place. 


Years. 


Average 
date of 

first 
killing 
frost in 

autumn. 


Average 
date of 

last 
kaiing 
frost ia 
spring. 


Earliest 

date of 

killing 

frost 

in 

autumn. 


Latest 
date of 
killing 
frost 
in 
spring. 


Fort Defiance 


7 

5 

9 

16 

20 

2 

10 

10 

12 


Sept. 17 
Sept. 13 
Sept. 23 

Oct.'ii" 
Sept. 25 
Sept. 20 
Sept. 21 
Oct. 20 


June 11 
June 15 
June 10 
May 13 
May 11 
May 23 
Apr. 13 

'Mar.' "2i" 


Sept. 15 
Aug. 29 
Sept. 13 
Sept. 19 
Sept. 17 

...do 

...do.... 
Sept. 12 
Oct. 19 


July 7 
June 23 
June 14 
June 5 
June 13 
May 31 
Apr. 27 
May 13 
May 24 


St. Michaels 


Keams Canyon 


Tuba 


Holbrook 


Chinle 


Fruitland 


Aneth 


Hite 





o Computed from miscellaneous records in annual reports of United States Weather Bureau. 
33033°— wsp 380—16 5 



66 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

The influence of elevation and topographic position on tempera- 
ture is shown by a comparison of the tables for Fort Defiance-St. 
Michaels with those for Holbrook, Aneth, and Hite. Fort Defiance- 
St. Michaels, at an elevation of nearly 7,000 feet, has a mean annual 
temperature of 47.6°. The thermometer rarely goes above 90°, and 
the highest temperatures recorded for 12 years are June, 98° ; July, 
97° ; Augiist, 96° ; while for four or five months in a year the ther- 
mometer falls below 20°, and —24° has been recorded. Holbrook, 
elevation 5,069 feet, has an annual mean of 54.2° ; for Aneth, eleva- 
tion 4,700 feet, the mean is 54.0° ; and for Hite, elevation 3,500 feet, 
60.6°. At this last station zero temperatures are not recorded. The 
range between the highest and the lowest monthly means is lowest for 
Chinle, 3°, followed in order by Hite, 4.9° ; Fruitland, 8.9° ; Aneth, 
10.5°; Holbrook, 11.4°; Keams Canyon, 14.7°; Fort Defiance-St. 
Michaels, 19.5° ; and Tuba, 27.5°. These figures of mean annual tem- 
perature and the range between the lowest and the highest average 
monthly means are not unlike those generally prevailing in temper- 
ate latitudes, and give, therefore, little indication of the temperatures 
experienced in this region. 

The annual and daily ranges of temperature are of greater sig- 
nificance. The maximum annual range recorded for Keams Can- 
yon is 109° (101° to —8°) ; for Hite, 113° (115° to 2°) ; for Aneth, 
116° (106° to —10°); for Tuba, 121° (108° to -13°); for Fort 
DeSance-St. Michaels, 122° (98° to -24°); for Fruitland, 124° 
(110° to —14°). The greatest range (127°) is at Holbrook, where a 
July temperature of 106° is offset by the low December record of 21° 
below zero. At all points on the reservation below 7,000 feet, tem- 
peratures exceeding 100° normally occur for 10 to 20 days each year, 
and in the Painted Desert, in the lower San Juan Valley, and along 
the Colorado Canyon such temperatures were experienced by our 
party for 3 to 6 days in succession. At such times the temperatures 
in the sun are almost intolerable. The surface soil reaches 140°-160°, 
and instruments, saddles, notebooks, and camp utensils can not be 
handled without pain. Except within the Little Colorado and San 
Juan valleys, and to a less extent in other canyons, temperatures 
below zero are normal for December, January, and February, and at 
Fort Defiance and Holbrook zero weather for 5 to 6 days in succes- 
sion has been experienced. 

High annual temperature ranges are accompanied by great daily 
range. A daily range of about 40° is probably common to the whole 
reservation; ranges of 50° have frequently been experienced; and 
on a few occasions my party has worked at temperatures exceeding 
80°, only to find ice in the camp buckets on the following mornings. 
A worker in this field soon learns that an ample supply of bed 



CLIMATE. 67 

blankets is required even during the scorching summer months. 
Sudden changes during daytime are infrequent, except when thunder- 
showers cool the air for a few hours. On one occasion during July, 
a temperature of 96° at 2 o'clock was followed within an hour by 
a hailstorm, which whitened the ground and lowered the temperature 
to a point where vigorous exercise was required to keep our limbs 
from becoming numb. 

Fortunately for man and beast, high temperatures and great daily 
range are accompanied in this region by dry air and cloudless skies. 
The mean relative humidity at Flagstaff^ is 62 per cent, being lowest 
(39 per cent) during June, the driest and, during some years, the 
hottest month. For the Navajo Eeservation these figures are doubt- 
less even lower. High humidity and high temperature were found 
not to be contemporaneous, with the result that heat, though distress- 
ing, is not enervating and oppressive. A hot air bath, not a steam 
bath, is part of the daily routine. 

The average date of first killing frost of autumn ranges from 
September 13 at St. Michaels, to October 20 in the Colorado Valley ; 
and the average date of the last killing frost of spring ranges from 
March 21 at Hite, to June 15 at St. Michaels. The stations under 
observation (see pp. 64^65), therefore, have in normal years a grow- 
ing season as follows : St. Michaels, 89 days ; Fort Defiance, 98 days ; 
Keams Canyon, 105 days; Chinle, 124 days; Holbrook, 127 days; 
Tuba, 133 days; Fruitland, 161 days; Aneth, 161 days; and Hite, 
201 days. This long growing season, where water has been made 
available as at St. Joseph, Fruitland, and Tuba, coupled with high 
temperatures, has favored alfalfa, corn, and fruit raising on an 
extensive scale. When, however, a period of several years is con- 
sidered, it appears that the normal length of the growing season 
may be much shortened. Thus the growing season may be reduced to 
96 days at Holbrook, and shortened by two weeks at Tuba; and 
Fort Defiance may have killing frost during every month of the 
year except August. 

The bearing of these figures on agriculture and irrigation may 
be seen from the fact that corn requires, on the average, 90 to 150 
days, and fruit an even longer time to reach maturity. 

WIND. 

Extensive areas of dunes and rippled flats eolian sands, widely 
spread over the Navajo Reservation, bear witness to the presence 
of winds. Eocks polished and etched by wind-blown sand (PL 
XVII, J.), vegetation buried waist deep, and fields of corn with 
leaves cut into shreds, are everyday sights. Sand storms are fre- 

1 United States Weather Bureau Bull. W, vol. 1, 1912. 



68 



THE ITAVAJO COUNTRY. 



quent and whirling columns of dust reaching high into the air may 
be counted by the dozens on clear summer days. During the larger 
storms the sky is darkened and the swiftly driven sand grains impel 
man and beast to seek shelter in some friendly arroyo. These storms 
are at their worst in the Painted Desert, along the Tusayan Washes, 
and on the Kaibito Plateau. The oasis of Tuba is walled in on the 
west by sand, piled against a windbreak made of trees, and the 
school grounds at Leupp are alternately buried and reexcavated. 
Fine sand, driven by strong winds, finds its way into the best con- 
structed buildings. 

The nervous irritation caused by the hot, stifling winds calls to 
mind the Spanish proverb : "Ask no favor while the solano blows." 
In the picturesque Navajo mythology the Wind People were sent to 
dry up the earth and " Wind and Night" (sand storm) is the most 
dreaded expression of these powers foi- evil. 

The records available for the Navajo Reservation show that 
the prevailing direction of wind is southwest for all stations on the 
reservation except Keams Canyon, where the low winds measured 
are directed eastward by a narrow, rock-w^alled gorge. Wind velocity 
has been recorded at Flagstaff, 40 miles beyond the Navajo Reserva- 
tion line. 

Prevailing direction and velocity of wind. 

Direction. 



Place. 


Length 

record 
in 

years. 


Jan. 


Feb. 


Mar. 


Apr. 


May. 


June. 


July. 


Aug. 


Sept. 


Oct. 


Nov. 


Dec. 


An- 
nual. 


Holbrook... 
Tuba 

St. Michaels. 
Keams Can- 
yon 


9 
12 
12 

3 


sw. 

sw. 
sw. 

sw. 


sw. 

N... 
SW. 

W... 


SW. 
SW. 
SW. 

w... 


SW. 

sw. 

sw. 

w... 


sw. 

SW. 

sw. 
w... 


SW. 

sw. 

SW. 

SW. 


SW. 
SW. 
SW. 

w... 


SW. 

sw. 

SW. 

s.... 


SW. 
SW. 
SW. 

W... 


SW. 
SW. 

sw. 
w... 


SW. 

SW. 

sw. 

SE.. 


SW. 
SW. 
SW. 

E... 


SW. 
SW. 

SW. 

w. 


Average velocity in miles per hour. 


Flagstaff.... 


5 


6 


7 


9 


9 


10 


9 


7 


5 


7 


6 


7 


7 





SOIL. 

On the Navajo Reservation tw^o types of soil are found — residual 
or local soils, which have resulted from decomposition of the rocks 
immediately underlying the surface; and transported soils, which 
have been carried by natural agencies from their place of origin 
and redeposited elsewhere. Scantiness of vegetation, severe showers, 
rapid run-off, and strong winds — features characteristic of this part of 
the country — are unfavorable for the development and retention of 
soil in place, and accordingly transported soil predominates. Soil 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 380 PLATE XVII 




A. WIND-SWEPT ROCKS, RAINBOW PLATEAU, NORTH OF NAVAJO MOUNTAIN. 
Photograph by A. R. Townsend. 




i 



mj% 'j-'-mL^s^&mi^is^^immm ^ ''-^mm^^. 




B. WEST SLOPE OF DEFIANCE PLATEAU. 
Typical view in zone of sage and greasewood, with scattered groves of pinon and cedar; elevation 5,200 feet. 



U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 380 PLATE XVlll 




A. PIUTE CANYON AT UPPER CROSSING. 




U. TYPICAL VIEW IN ZONE OF PINON AND CEDAR, 6,000 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL. 
Photograph by Schwemberger. 



SOIL. 69 

weathered directly from the underlying rock forms a mantle a few 
inches thick on the broad interstream spaces which mark the flat tops 
of the Chuska Mountains, of Defiance, Button, and Chaco plateaus, 
and of Black and Segi mesas. Large patches of residual soil may 
be found also on Carrizo and Navajo mountains, in Monument and 
Chuska valleys, and to a less extent elsewhere. Bare rock, however, 
predominates on the tops and slopes of the smaller mesas and ridges ; 
the canyon walls are generally without soil ; and hundreds of square 
miles along the Little Colorado and San Juan rivers, on Kaibito 
and Rainbow plateaus, and in the Hopi Buttes province, have pre- 
vailingly bare rock floors. It is probable that the reservation could 
be traversed along a selected route from Carrizo Mountain to Lee 
Ferry and from Grand Falls to Bluff without setting foot on soil 
of local origin. 

Transported soil, however, is widespread. The broad washes 
and their innumerable tributaries are flooded with stream-borne 
debris to depths exceeding 100 feet. Alluvial soil is also displayed 
in fans and slopes along the valley sides and in terraces clinging 
to canyon walls, and a small amount of transported soil marks 
the beds of extinct and ephemeral lakes. Wind also has played a 
part in distributing surface materials. Eolian soils in the form 
of dunes, ridges, and rippled flats are prominently displayed along 
the Little Colorado, in the Tusayan Washes, on Moenkopi, Kaibito, 
and Shato plateaus, and to a less degree in the Chinle Valley. The 
west and south sides of the reservation are most heavily coated 
with wind-blown soil, but "blow dust" is found on highland and 
lowland alike, and it is probable that the strong prevailing south- 
west winds carry impalpable dust to all parts of the reservation. 

The soil of the Navajo country is derived from rocks relatively 
poor in mineral plant food. Limestone underlies probably less than 
5 per cent of the area, occurring only in the strata of Carboniferous 
age and in certain beds of the Chinle formation and of the La Plata 
group.^ The shales and sandstones of the Moenkopi formation 
contain relatively little plant food and are in most places charged 
with gypsum and other objectionable salts. The Shinarump con- 
glomerate furnishes no soil of value to plants, and the shales of the 
Chinle formation develop characteristically into infertile "bad- 
land" areas. The sandstones of both the La Plata group and the 
McElmo formation are prevailingly quartzose and are therefore 
sparingly provided with plant food. The Cretaceous strata — Da- 
kota, Mancos, and Mesaverde — contain a higher proportion of min- 
eral plant foods than any of the other formations represented on the 
reservation, and the lavas (largely basaltic) furnish a soil of high 
fertility. However, in spite of its origin, the soil of the reservation 

1 The distribution of the rock formations is shown on the geologic map, PI. II, in pocket. 



70 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

is not lacking in fertilit}^ — a condition which is due largely to the 
arid climate. The bits of plant food sparingly distributed in the 
rocks are accumulated in the soils of the washes and alluvial fans. 
Here the food is stored in large quantities and for long periods, be- 
cause continuous, vigorous ground-water movement is lacking, and 
the leaching of soluble constituents is correspondingly checked. 

No detailed studies of the soils of the Navajo country have been 
made, but incomplete analyses of several samples collected in hap- 
hazard fashion from Chuska Valley, Chinle Valley, and the Tusayan 
Washes revealed lime, potash, phosphoric acid, sulphuric acid, and 
nitrogen in amounts fairly typical for soils of the arid Southwest. 
The following analyses of soils were made by Dr. Loew.^ The first 
is a sample of the soil cultivated by the Hopis in the vicinity of 
Oraibi; the sample from Chevelon Fork^ is from deposits weath- 
ered from sandstones of "Triassic age" (Chinle formation?). 

Analysis of soils from Hopi villages. 

Potash 0. 072 

Carbonate of lime ( lime = 1.665 ) 2.970 

Ptiosplioric acid .031 

Soda Trace. 

Litliia Trace. 

Alumina, oxide of iron and magnesia 2. 327 

Total extract by hydrochloric acid 5. 40 

Insoluble 94. 60 

Analysis of soil from Chevelon Fork. 

Sand 53. 10 

Silt with clay 43. 55 

Hygroscopic moisture 1. 89 

Chemically bound water and organic matter 1.46 

100. 00 

Potash - 0.092 

Soda - .010 

Lime . 319 

Phosphoric acid . 070 

Sulphuric acid, magnesia, alumina, and oxide of iron 2. 559 

Insoluble in hydrochloric acid (chiefly quartz sand) 93.550 

That the soil of the reservation possesses fertility is amply demon- 
strated by the vigorous natural growth of perennials and annuals 
where water is present and by the fact that the Hopis and their 
ancestors, the cliff dwellers, have cultivated crops of com, peaches, 
and melons without irrigation, and even in sand dunes. The fer- 

1 Loew, Oscar, U. S. Geog. Surveys W. 100th Mer. Rept., vol. 3, pp. 585, 586, 1875. 

2 Chevelon Fork, according to Sitgreaves, received its name from a French trapper " who 
died upon its banks from eating some poisonous root." 



FLORA. Yl 

tility of the soil is renewed by continuous redistribution of alluvium, 
by showers and seasonal rains, and by wind — a process which tends 
also to incorporate within the soil the vegetation which springs up 
rapidly where conditions allow. Large quantities of sheep manure, 
at present little used, are available for fertilization. 

As in other arid regions, the ingredient lacking in Navajo soils 
is water. The dry air and loose soil allow the ready passage of 
moisture to the surface, and during the dry season the water table 
sinks to a depth which makes natural farming in this region un- 
profitable. Experiments in dry farming have produced fairly satis- 
factory results, and where water is applied systematically the soil 
responds with alacrity, as has been abundantly demonstrated by the 
Mormons at Bluff, Tuba, and St. Joseph, and by the Government 
farmers at Fort Defiance, Chinle, Shiprock, and elsewhere. In 
planning for the future of this country it should be borne in mind 
that the " dull, lifeless soil," " hopelessly barren land," and " worth- 
less, bare stretches " of the early explorers and chance tourists are 
terms not necessarily synonymous with infertility. On the other 
hand, it appears that the available supply of water is insufficient, 
even after full development, to reclaim any large part of this other- 
wise fertile land. 

FLORA. 

GENERAL RELATIONS. 

The barrenness of the Navajo region impressed itself on the early 
explorers. Simpson^ pays his respects to the Chuska Mountains 
and Chuska and Chinle valleys in the following terms: 

The primary mountains are generally destitute of other sylva than pine and 
cedar, most frequently of a sparse and dwarfish character. * * * The sedi- 
mentary rocks are almost universally bare of vegetation, except that of a 
sparse, dwarfish, sickening-colored aspect, and can not be regarded as a gen- 
eral thing * * * without a sensation of loathing. 

Sitgreaves ^ states : " I can add very little to the information 
afforded by the map, almost the entire country traversed being bar- 
ren and without general interest." 

Whipple ^ classifies the land in a belt 30 miles wide and 110 miles 
long, between Campbell Pass and Flax RiA^er (Little Colorado) as 
follows : " Woodland, one-tenth ; cultivatable soil, one-thirtieth ; rock 
hills, one-tenth; prairies and pasture, seven-tenths." 

The vegetation of the country traversed by Simpson, Sitgreaves, 
and Whipple has doubtless changed little during the last 60 years. 

1 Expedition into the Navajo country : 31st Cong., 1st sess., Ex. Doc. 64, 1850. 

^ Expedition down the Zuni and Colorado rivers : 33d Cong., 1st sess., Ex. Doc, 1854. 

s U. S. Pacific R. R. Expl., vol. 3, pt. 2, p. 50, 1854. 



72 THE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 

Further acquaintance with the reservation, however, brings to view 
a widely distributed and widely varied flora of peculiar ecologic 
interest, which remains a virgin field of study. 

Within the limits of the Navajo country the factor of latitude 
has little effect on plant life. Topography and altitude with their 
attendant climatic controls determine the character of the plant life 
and the boundaries of ecologic provinces. For the region as a whole 
four zones of vegetation are readily distinguished : 

1. Zone of Cottonwood, cactus, and yucca; altitude, 3,600-6,000 
feet ; type area, Little Colorado Valley. Within this zone vegetation 
is scanty and over large areas very inconspicuous. "Flat-leaved" 
and "globular" cacti are abundant; yucca is common; grass is 
scanty and commonly in detached tufts; sage and greasewood are 
of small size; scrub juniper and pinon are relatively rare. Durhig 
the rainy season there is a profusion of annuals, among which Mari- 
posa lily, yellow sunflowers, and related Compositas are abundantly 
represented. In places fields several acres in extent of yellow flowers 
were noted. Wild flax is common.^ 

2. Zone of sagebrush (Artemisia) and greasewood (Sarcobatus) ; 
altitude, 6,000-6,000 feet ; type locality, upper Pueblo Colorado Wash. 
Sage within this zone attains heights of 4 or 6 feet and in places is 
so closely spaced as to render travel difficult and may occupy the 
surface to the exclusion of trees. Besides the ever-present sage and 
greasewood, grass is fairly abundant in this zone. Patches of pinon 
and juniper are irregularly distributed, usually along rocky ridges, 
but are in general of "scrub" size (PI. XVII, B^ p. 68). 

3. Zone of piiion {Firms edulis) and juniper {Juniperus mono- 
sperma) ; altitude, 6,000-7,000 feet, the juniper in general occurring 
at lower altitudes than the pinon ; type locality, south edge of Black 
Mesa. Much of the pinon and juniper is of scrub size, but trees 12 
to 20 inches in diameter are not uncommon and would yield 1 to 26 
cords of firewood per acre. Sagebrush, and to a less extent grease- 
wood, usually of strong growth, occupy open spaces. Groves of 
pinon surrounding parks of sage is the ordinary arrangement. 
Scrub oak and box elder are also found. Pine and juniper {Juni- 
perus scopularum) and aspen {Populus tremuloides) are found in a 
few well-watered canyons. Grass in tufts and scattered mats grows 
everywhere except in the densest shade (PL XVIII, 5, p. 69). 

4. Zone of yellow pine; altitude, 7,000-8,600 feet; type locality, 
Defiance Plateau (PI. XIX). The pines form solid forests over 
many square miles. The trees stand far apart and, as was long ago 
noted by Loew,^ there is a singular absence of trees of intermediate 
heights. Englemann spruce and Douglas fir in groves of a few indi- 

1 An early Spanish name for the Little Colorado River is Rio de Liflo. Ives (1861) 
uses the term Flax River. The Navajo name is Tolchico, "red Avater canyon." 

2 U. S. Geog. Surveys W. 100th Mer. Rept., vol. 3, pp. 603-604, 1875. 



FLOE A. 73 

viduals are found here and there clinging to canyon walls, especially 
on north slopes, and Gambel oak {Quercus gamhelii) in close-set 
patches attains considerable prominence. Quaking aspen commonly 
occurs in the upper mountain valleys. Fine grass is common. 

Yellow pine is practically absent from the higher parts of Black 
Mesa and the Segi Mesas at altitudes where they are to be expected. 
Lack of water rather than unfavorable temperature is believed to 
account for the absence of pine at elevations between 7,000 and 7,700 
feet on Black Mesa. In support of this view, the presence of fir and 
aspen at this elevation is cited by Mr. Johnson.^ An additional bit 
of evidence is the fact that in the canyon of Segi Mesas and in sharp 
indentations on the side of Black Mesa pines grow vigorously. 

5. Zone of Engelmann spruce; altitude, 8,500 to 10,416 feet (the 
highest summits) ; type locality, Navajo Mountain. Outside of the 
type locality small groves of spruce were noted on Carrizo Mountain 
and the Chuska Mountains, and on Dutton Plateau. Within the 
Xavajo Mountain forests are spruce trees 12 to 30 inches in diameter 
and 70 to 80 feet high. In open spaces beneath the trees blackjack, 
oak, willow, poplar, ground juniper, manzanita, sage, gooseberry, 
and raspberry attain luxuriant growths, while flowers in large variety 
are embedded in the grass. The profusion of flowers at moderate 
altitudes is remarkable for variety of species and abundance of in- 
dividuals. On the Chuska Mountains Simpson ^ collected 90 varie- 
ties within 24 hours, and 22 plants were found in blossom on Navajo 
Mountain. 

The boundaries of the zones roughly outlined above are subject to 
considerable shifting in harmony with topographic position. In 
general the zone boundaries descend on the north and east, but plant 
societies characteristic of one zone may be found within another zone, 
appearing strangely out of place. Pinon represented by individuals 
was found in the Glen Canyon at 3,500 feet and on Carrizo at 
9,000 feet; cacti are found at all elevations, and the cottonwood, 
abundant along the San Juan and the Little Colorado, reappears up 
to 6,000 feet. 

Cotton was cultivated by the cliff dwellers and their descendants, 
and the corn frequently found in ruins testifies to the antiquity of 
agriculture in this region.^ Peaches growing wild in Nazlini and 
de Chelly canyon^ were probably introduced by the Spaniards. 
Beale* reports that potatoes were found growing wild at Fort De- 
fiance. 



1 Personal communication f ram Mr. Don B. Johnson, of the Forest Service. 

2 Expedition to the Navajo country, p. 96, 1850. 

3 In an ancient ruin near Tolchico burned corn is embedded in fragments of porous, 
baked adobe, locally called " lava." Similar occurrences may have given rise to a popular 
notion, often repeated in books of travel, that the homes of the cliff people were destroyed 
by volcanic eruptions. 

*Beale, E. F., Surveys for a wagon road from Fort Defiance to the Colorado River 
pp. 36-37, 1858. 



74 THE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 

FORESTS. 

A map of the forests on the Navajo and Hopi reservations, pre- 
pared by G. A. Gutches, supervisor of forests, is reproduced as 
Plate XIX with the permission of the Commissioner of Indian 
Affairs. The following notes on the map are abstracted from Mr. 
Gutches's manuscript: 

The area of spruce on Navajo Mountain is 4,500 acres, and will 
cut approximately 12,000,000 feet. The inaccessibility of this timber 
renders it of little value. "Merchantable yellow pine" occupies 
235,500 acres, 80 per cent of which is covered by a good stand of 
mature timber averaging 21 inches in diameter breast high, and 
80 feet in height, and will cut about 850,000,000 board feet of lum- 
ber. Roads for logging may be cheaply constructed. " Scattered 
yellow pine" on the Chuska Mountains and Defiance Plateau will 
yield 700,000,000 board feet of lumber in addition to 250,000 cords 
of fuel. "Piiion and scattered juniper" covers 1,250,000 acres. A 
denser growth of pinon at 7,000 feet thins out at about 6,200 feet, 
at which elevation juniper begins and constitutes about 20 per cent 
of the cut; 6,900,000 cords of fuel may be obtained from this forest 
type. " Scattered juniper and pinon " cover about 60 per cent of 
the area (3,400,000 acres) indicated on the map; 70 per cent of the 
stand is juniper and 30 per cent pinon. The two species together 
will yield 2,000,000 cords of fuel. "The reproduction of yellow 
pine over the yellow-pine types is very poor and scattered. For the 
most part the reproduction can be considered as nil. This is due 
to sheep and goat grazing. There are no signs of reproduction on 
the cut-over areas about the Navajo and San Juan Agency mills." 

The wide spacing of trees and the absence- of underbrush and of 
heavy grass practically eliminate the danger of forest fires arising 
from the usual causes. The region is, however, within the zone of 
maximum danger from lightning; 42,081 trees in the national for- 
ests of western New Mexico, northern Arizona, and southern Utah, 
including the plateau province, are reported to have been struck by 
lightning during a three-year period of observation.^ On the Navajo 
Reservation trees broken or shattered or killed by lightning are 

common. 

FAUNA. 

Among the larger indigenous animals most frequently seen in the 
Navajo country are the rabbit, prairie dog, coyote, trade rat, field 
mouse, snakes of several species, including abundant rattlers, and a 
large variety of lizard; brown squirrels and chipmunks are found 
in the forests, where also wild cat, porcupine, wolf, fox, and bear 
are occasionally met. The Spanish padres, Sitgreaves^ (1854), 

1 Plummer, F. G., Lightning in relation to forest fires : TJ. S. Forest Service Bull. Ill, 
1912. 

2 Report of an expedition down the Zuni and Colorado rivers, 1854. 



^K 



] I 



MEXIC' 



so Miles 



I 



i. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 




Base from U, S. 



FOREST MAP OF THE NAVAJO COUNTRY, ARIZONA, NEW MEXICO, AND UTAH 



Forest areas by G. A. Gulches, 

Supervisor of Forests 

U, S, Office of Indian Affairs 



FAUNA. 75 

Lethermann^ (1858), and Beadle ^ (1873) found antelope and black 
tailed deer in abundance. Beadle mentions also the gray fox and 
the beaver. The horns of mountain sheep were found at Navajo 
Mountain. The principal birds noted during the years 1909 to 1913 
are the eagle, hawk, nighthawk, raven, wild turkey, crow, two 
species of duck, white and sandhill crane, pinon jay, three species 
of owl, catbird, swallow, and rock wren. On Navajo Mountain the 
robin, woodpecker, junco, woodthrush, tree sparrow, nutcracker, 
bluebird, and humming bird were seen. Insects, including tarantula 
and scorpion, are too common. Nearly the entire native fauna enters 
into Navajo animal worship. The eagle (Navajo, Atsa dine, the 
eagle people, who inhabit Yaghahoka, the heaven above), the owl 
(Navajo, Nasja, which plays the role of a spy), the bear (Navajo, 
Shash, the descendant of mythical monsters) , and the snake are ob- 
jects of special reverence. The attitude of the Navajo toward ani- 
mals has resulted in the protection of many harmful species. 

Previous to the Spanish invasion the natives appear to have had 
no domesticated animals except the dog. Navajo horses, obtained at 
first by raids upon Mexican settlers, are now abundant, and wild 
herds are occasionally seen. Burros, especially among the Hopis, 
are widely used; and nearly every Indian family has its flock of 
sheep and goats. Cattle raising is not as yet an important industry. 
The introduction of sheep greatly modified the dietary of Navajo 
and Hopi alike, and, with the occasional use of the horse, has re- 
placed the deer and antelope, which are no longer seen in this region. 

MINEHAIi WEALTH. 

Prudden^ states that no metal tools or utensils have ever been 
found in cliff ruins, and nowhere within the reservation have bodies 
of ores of high value been located. Mining camps established at 
various times have had short lives. The useless shaft on Carrizo 
Mountain, discarded machinery along the San Juan, and the aban- 
doned workings west of White Mesa testify to the lack of com- 
mercial value in the widely distributed occurrences of gold and 
copper. The oil fields at Goodridge and Seven Lakes and recent 
locations on the Little Colorado have so far failed to justify the 
expenditure of large funds. Jewel garnets from the lower Chinle 
Valley and peridots from Buell Park and elsewhere find a ready 
market. The extensive coal fields of Black Mesa and of western 
New Mexico are of high value.* 

1 Smithsonian Inst. Tenth Ann. Kept, 1855. 

2 The undeveloped West, 1873. 

3 Prudden, T. M., The Great American Plateau, 1907. 

* Shaler, M. K., A reconnaissance survey of the western part of the Durango-Gallup coal 
field of Colorado and New Mexico : U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 316, pp. 376-426, 2 pis., 1907. 

Gardner, J. H., The coal field between Gallup and San Mateo, N. Mex. : U. S. Geol. Sur- 
vey Bull. 341, pp. 364-378, 1 pi., 1909. 

Campbell, M. R., and Gregory, H. E., The Black Mesa coal field, Ariz. : U. S. Geol. Sur- 
vey Bull. 431, pp. 229-238, 1 pi., 1911. 



76 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 
POPULATION AND INDUSTRIES, 



The population of the Navajo and Hopi reservations estimated for 
1912 is 32,488 Indians and 521 whites, distributed as follows: 

Population, Navajo and Hopi reservations, 1912. 





o 

! 




1 


P. 
•S o 


1 


h 
!l 


II 


1 


.1 

ft 
02 


White popula- 
tion. 


i 


Agency. 


1 

O 


f 




o 




1,200 
10,000 
2,685 
8,000 
6,131 
2,000 






1,200 
10,000 
2,685 
8,000 
6,535 
4,068 


1,200 
9,990 
02,680 
8,000 
6,535 
4,064 


20.83 
15.00 
53.32 
22.00 
6.54 
61.45 


4.08 
11.00 

1.71 
25.00 

8.27 
4.57 


800 

2,500 

<j800 

al,000 

200 
1,500 


75 
750 
300 
200 
200 
1,500 


15 
65 
a 16 
60 
25 
66 


30 
55 
al4 
55 
20 
17 


14 

29 

a2 

7 

18 
13 


59 


Navajo .. 






149 


Pueblo Bonito 






32 


San Juan . 






122 


Western Navajo.... 
Hopi 


204 
2,068 


200 


63 
96 








30,016 


2,272 


200 


32,488 


32, 469 


18.39 


12.36 


6,800 


3,025 


247 


191 

« 


83 


521 



o Estimated by the author. 

To the physical environment of topography, climate, soil, native 
and introduced foods, and the water supply, the Hopi and the Navajo 
are in close adjustment. The 2,000 Hopi located on the high capes 
projecting from Black Mesa are agriculturists who, through cen- 
turies of experiment, have become surprisingly skillful in selecting 
fields and caring for their crops of corn, melons, and peaches. By 
dry farming and by irrigation, developed long before Spanish incur- 
sions, these people have maintained themselves and preserved their 
race from extinction in a singularly unfriendly environment. With 
incredible skill they have practiced the art of conserA^ation of water, 
and that the mind of the race is intent on this one problem is shown 
by the organization of the clans and the elaborate ceremonies devised 
to enlist the cooperation of unseen powers which are believed to 
control the rainfall. Endless toil and endless prayer, both directed 
to increase and to preserve the precious water, constitute the life of 
the Hopi. (See PI. XX.) 

In marked contrast to the sedentary Hopi, the Navajo is a nomad, 
peculiarly adjusted to arid climates. His hogan is a temporary 
structure of poles and mud or of brush, and his life consists in fol- 
lowing his flocks from place to place, where water and forage are 
available. With the coming of the whites, particularly within the 
last 25 years, many Navajos are making permanent homes and rais- 
ing increased amounts of corn and forage crops by means of flood 
irrigation. As yet, however, the characteristic position of the 
Navajo is on horseback. The raising of sheep and the manufacture 
of blankets continues to occupy the attention of the men, women, 
and children of this tribe. These products are exchanged chiefly 










. 1 



POPULATION AND INDUSTRIES. 



77 



for flour, sugar, and coffee, which, with the ever-present mutton, 
make up the Navajo's daily bill of fare. 

The future of the Navajo and Hopi reservations is bound up with 
its development as a stock country rather than with agriculture. 
Irrigation on a moderate scale is feasible along the permanent water- 
courses, and small parcels of land may be watered by utilizing 
springs, building dams, and constructing wells at many localities ; but 
a policy directed toward improving breeds, conserving grazing, in- 
troducing new forage plants, and developing water for herds and 
flocks is most likely to insure the highest usefulness for the region. 

The position of the Navajo and the Hopi Indians as stockmen and 
agriculturists is shown by the following statistics: 

Stock raising in Navajo country, 1912. 



Reservation. 


Grazing 
lands 
(acres). 


Horses, 
mules, 
burros. 


Cattle. 


Sheep and 
goats. 


Value of all 
stock sold 
and slaugh- 
tered. 


Value of 

blankets 

sold. 




75,000 
4,990,000 
3,810,000 
1,500,000 
3,020,347 
1,588,320 


1,040 

a 162, 000 

141,000 

10,651 

12,200 

6,150 


1,240 
10,000 

6,000 
10,550 

2,500 

3,000 


25,000 
700,000 
450,000 
146,776 
150,000 
142,000 


$7,400 


$7,000 




270,000 
200,000 




181,250 




25,000 
15,000 
100,000 


"Wft<?t,pm TJfl.vaio . 


48,200 
83,006 


Hopi ........... 










14,983,667 


333,041 


33,290 


1,613,776 


319,856 


437,000 


a Estimated. 
Agriculture on unallotted lands in 


Navajo country, 1913. 




Agricultural lands. 


1 
a 


ft 

si 

1 




Reservation. 


t 

i 
.1 


It 


o ^ 
m 

.2 ®^ 


i 




o 

si 


la 


1 

> 


1 
o 


Leupp 


20 


500 
10,000 




5 


(a) 
10,000 
5,000 
400 
1,000 
4,000 


(«) 
2,000 
1,000 
200 
400 
1,500 


(a) 

5.00 

5.00 

2.00 

2.50 

2.67 


"%,m 

162, 100 

1,338 

10,100 

22,000 


75,000 
4,990,000 
3,810,000 
1,500,000 
3,020,347 
1,588,820 


283,340 


358, 860 


Navajo 


5,000,000 
3,815,000 
1,500,100 
3,379,347 
2,472,320 




5,000 
(^) 
1,000 
10 




100 

' ' V 45 
d50 




Pueblo Bonito 


12,000 


(&) 

7,300 
3,999 




Western Navajo 


338,700 
720,000 








6,030 


22,500 


11,299 


200 


20,400 


5,100 


3.43 


201,938 


14,992,667 


1,342,040 


16,525,627 



a Not reported. 



b Unknown. 



c Estimated. 



d Navajo and Hopi together. 



GEOLOGIC SKETCH. 



In its broad outlines the geology of the Navajo country involves 
the geologj^ of the Colorado Plateau province, and the problems of 
physiography, stratigraphy, structure, and volcanism relating to 
the region as a whole have been discussed by various writers. For 

1 The geology of the Navajo country is discussed in another volume now in pi*eparation 
for publication as Professional Paper 93 of the Geological Survey. Only comprehensive 
relations and such geologic features as have direct bearing on the problem of water supply 
are considered in the present paper. 



78 THE NAVAJO COUNTKY. 

those who find interest in such studies the following reports are 
suggested : 

Gilbert, G. K., Marvine, A. R., and Howell, E. E., U. S. Geog. Surveys 
W. 100th Mer. Rept., vol. 3, 1875. 

Dutton, C. E., Tertiary history of the Grand Canyon district: U. S. Geol. 
Survey Mon. 2, 1882. 

Dutton, C. E., Mount Taylor and the Zuni Plateau : U. S. Geol. Survey Sixth 
Ann Rept., 1885. 

Cross, Whitman, Red beds of southwestern Colorado and their correlation: 
Geol. Soc. America Bull., vol. 16, pp. 442-498, 1905. 

Ward, L. F., Status of the Mesozoic floras of the United States : U. S. Geol. 
Survey Mon. 48, pt. 1, pp. 13-46, 1905. 

Darton, N. H., A reconnaissance of parts of northwestern New Mexico and 
northern Arizona: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull, 435, 1910. 

Woodruff, E. G., Geology of the San Juan oil field : U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 
471, pt. 2, 1911. 

Robinson, H. H., The San Franciscan volcanic field ; U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. 
Paper 76, 1913. 

Gregory, H. E,, The Shinarump conglomerate : Am. Jour. Sci., 4th ser., vol. 35, 
pp. 424-438, 1913. 

STRATIGRAPHY. 

The sedimentary strata within the limits of the Navajo country 
are of pre-Cambrian ( ? ) , Pennsylvanian, Permian ( ? ) , Triassic, 
Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary, and Quaternary ages. The relations 
of these systems and series and the formations which they embrace 
are represented in the generalized section (PI. XXI). 

Pre-Cambrian(?). — Within the area studied the oldest sedimen- 
tary formations whose age has been definitely determined are lime- 
stones of Carboniferous age. The lower contact of the Carbon- 
iferous is not exposed, but at Quartzite Canyon (locally called Blue 
Canyon) near Fort Defiance, quartzite unconformably underlies 
strata of Permian ( ? ) age. In composition, structure, and degree of 
metamorphism this quartzite mass appears to be identical with the 
pre-Cambrian quartzite of the Colorado Canyon and is believed to 
be of equivalent age. 

. Pennsylvanian. — Within the canyon of the San Juan and at 
Grand Falls and several other points along the Little Colorado 
strata of buff and brown limestone are well exposed for study, and 
in the canyon Avails this limestone (Kaibab) is underlain by other 
formations of the Aubrey group. Fossils collected at Goodridge, 
Utah, in 1909, and on the lower Little Colorado in 1910, taken in 
connection with later collections by Woodruff, have served to estab- 
lish the Pennsylvanian age of these beds. The exposed Pennsyl- 
vanian strata — the Kaibab limestone and the Goodridge formation — 
differ materially in lithologic features. 

Permian {?). — The beds between the Pennsylvanian limestone and 
the Shinarump conglomerate are assigned to the Permian (?) on 
the basis of Walcott's studies in the Kanab Valley and the discovery 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



System 
and series 


Formation 


QUATERNARY 




>- 

i 


i 


Chuska sandstoiw 

UNCONFORMITY 

Tohachi shale 


2 

o 


o 

f 

O 

1 


Mesaverde and 
later formations 


Mancos shale 


Dakota sandstone 


— ) 


McElmo formatioi 


O 
CO 

i 

— > 


Q. 

1 

TO 


Navajo sandstone 


Todilto formation 


Wingate sandstone 


< 


Chinle formation 

_ — UNCONFORMITy 
Shinarump conglomeral 


CO 

ID 

o 

LU 

z 

g 

2 


c 
.2 
E 


De Chelly sandstoi 


Moenkopi formatioi 


c 
'c 

J 

1 
1 


Aubrey group in 
Little Colorado River 
region, and Goodridgt 
formation in San Juai 
River region (relatior 
unknown) 

! 

_ 1 INCONFORMITY 


PRE- 
CAMBRIANC?) 


Ouartzite 






GENERALIZ 



,f,&Te, 



McEimo 



consisting mostly of quartzlte pebbles, largely buff or gray, t 









, and Goodrid 
JonmSanJii 



GENERALIZED 



OF FORMATIONS REPRESENTED IN THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 



GEOLOGIC SKETCH, 79 

of Permian plants in Quartzite Canyon in 1913. Within the limits 
of the Navajo Reservation these beds prevailingly consist of arena- 
ceous shales and thin-bedded sandstone, brown to chocolate in tone, 
charged with lime and gypsum. For these beds the term Moenkopi 
formation, proposed by Ward, is retained. In a few localities the 
upper portion of the Permian sediments is represented by massive 
cross-bedded sandstones, for which the name De Chelly sandstone 
has been adopted. 

An unconformity limiting the upward extension of the Moenkopi 
strata has been observed at several localities and is believed to repre- 
sent an erosion surface of wide extent.^ 

Triassic. — The unconformity at the base of the Shinarump con- 
glomerate appears to mark the base of the Triassic in northeastern 
Arizona. The Lower and Middle Triassic are probably not present, 
as the Shinarump conglomerate and the Chinle formation are be- 
lieved to be of Upper Triassic age. 

The Shinarump conglomerate consists of conglomerate and coarse 
sandstone arranged in cross-bedded lenses. Both pebbles and cement 
are prevailingly siliceous and the universal presence of fossil wood 
gives this formation a unique appearance. 

The Chinle formation consists of calcareous shales and sandstones 
including lenses and beds at varying horizons of limestone conglom- 
erate. The strata are highly colored in pink, purple, gray, and 
brown, and eroded into badland forms of singular beauty. Fossil 
wood is present in this formation and becomes unusually abundant 
at the various " fossil forests." Vertebrate remains collected at a 
number of localities fix the date of deposition of the beds. The 
Chinle is equivalent in part to the " Leroux formation " of Ward and 
the Dolores formation of Cross. 

Jurassic. — The strata assigned to the Jurassic belong to the La 
Plata group, and consist typically of two formations of massive, 
cross-bedded, friable sandstones, ranging in thickness from 100 to 
1,000 feet. The upper formation is the Navajo sandstone and the 
lower the Wingate sandstone. A band of limestone or of calcareous 
shale and sandstone — the Todilto formation — in many places sepa- 
rates the Navajo and the Wingate sandstones. The great thickness 
of the strata constituting the La Plata group, their red tone, and 
their wide distribution give these beds a conspicuous position among 
the formations represented on the reservation. Windows, alcoves, 
and natural bridges are typical erosion features. 

Jurassic (?) . — Above the La Plata group lies a series of green- 
ish-white sandstones with subordinate amounts of shales classed as 

1 Gregory, H. E., The Shinarump conglomerate : Am. Jour. Sci., 4th ser., vol. 35, pp. 
424-438, 1913 ; Reconnaissance of a portion of the Little Colorado Valley : Idem, vol. 38, 
pp. 401-501, 1914. 



80 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

the McElmo formation. The grains of the sandstone are siliceous 
and the cement is ferruginous calcareous, so that the rock is friable 
and readily eroded into scalloped and curtained cliffs. The shales 
are in some places intricately dissected into bizarre forms of "bad- 
land " type. 

Cretaceous. — The Cretaceous formations exposed on the reserva- 
tion correspond with the subdivisions of this system recognized in 
southwestern Colorado.^ The Dakota sandstone unconformably 
overlies the McElmo formation and consists of conglomerate and 
sandstones, lenticular and cross-bedded. The Mancos shale is pre- 
vailingly argillaceous but contains many beds of sandstone and 
numerous thin seams of coal. The Mesaverde formation, consisting 
of sandstones, shales, and coal, is widely extended in northeastern 
Arizona and northwestern New Mexico. The tops of Black Mesa, 
of Dutton, Chaco, and Manuelito plateaus, and the floor of Chuska 
Valley are formed of the resistant sandstone members of the Mesa- 
verde. Within this formation are found deposits of coal of high 
commercial value. Cretaceous strata younger than the Mesaverde 
are represented on the reservation but have not been differentiated. 

Tertiary. — Strata of Tertiary age cap the Chuska Mountains and 
cover a portion of Black Mesa. Two formations are recognized — 
the Tohachi shale and a group of porous, friable gray sandstones 
for which the term " Chuska sandstone " has been adopted. The 
Tertiary formations rest unconformably on the eroded surface of 
Cretaceous and of older beds. Volcanic flows of Tertiary age are 
represented by caps on the Chuska Mountains and by numerous 
fragments in the Hopi Buttes region and along the Little Colorado 
Eiver. Volcanic necks and dikes are distributed widely over the 
reservation. 

Quaternary. — The products of post-Tertiary erosion are repre- 
sented on the Navajo Eeservation by extensive deposits of alluvium 
forming the floor of wide washes and fringing canyon and mesa 
walls. Wind has also played an active part, and dunes ranging in 
size from small mounds to crescentic ridges 30 to 50 feet in height 
are found at all points except over the forested highland areas. 

STRUCTURE. 

The fundamental structural features of Navajo geology are shown 
on the accompanying sections, Plate XXII, and require little fur- 
ther description for our present purposes. The departures of strata 
from horizontality are the results of folds rather than of faults, 

1 Cross, Whitman, U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas, La Plata folio (No. 60), 1899. 



PAINTED DESERT 



KAIBITO PLATEAU 



BLACK MESA 



CHINLE VALLEY 



DEFIANCE PLATEAU 



CHUSKA MOUNTAINS CHUSKA VALLEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 380 PLATE 
CHACO PLATEAU 




! S 




RAINBOW PLATEAU NAVAJO MOUNTAIN 



.4. SECTION FROM COLORADO RIVER THROUGH LOHALI TO CHACO RIVER 

MONUMENT VALLEY CHINLE VALLEY GOTHIC MESAS 



CARRIZO MOUNTAIN 



CHUSKA VALLEY 





B. SECTION FROM COLORADO RIVER THROUGH NAVAJO AND C/lRRIZO MOUNTAINS TO CHACO RIVER 



GEOLOGIC SECTIONS ACROSS THE NAVAJO COUNTRY 



GEOLOGIC SKETCH. 81 

which have such a commanding influence in the plateau region 
farther west. In fact the fault in Monument Valley/ described by 
Woodruff as having a maximum throw of 200 feet, is the only 
example of faults exceeding 100 feet in vertical displacement so far 
known on the reservation. In the eastern part of the district the 
structural feature of primary importance is the De Chelly upwarp, 
which includes the elongated dome of Defiance Plateau, from which 
Tertiary, Cretaceous, Jurassic, and the larger part of Triassic sedi- 
ments have been stripped. The western limb of the De Chelly up- 
warp in many places dips gently beneath the Chinle Valley ; else- 
where it drops abruptly westward, forming the Ganado monocline. 
The eastern limb is sharply downfolded in the Defiance monocline 
with dips between 20° and 70°. The upturned and eroded edges 
of strata forming the Defiance monocline may be traced northward 
from the Santa Fe Eailway, along the west front of Manuelito 
Plateau, until they disappear beneath the Chuska Mountains. 
Emerging from the base of Chuska Mountain at Toadlena, the 
monocline continues across Chuska Valley, reaching the San Juan 
at Hogback Mountain. A minor dome, Todilto Park, interrupts the 
regularity of the prevailing eastward dip. At the southern border 
of the reservation the dips of the monocline flatten, and the structure 
probably disappears some distance beyond Zuni. (See PL VIII, J., 
p. 33.) 

Eastward from the Defiance monocline an extensive coal field 
occupies the Gallup syncline, the eastern limb of which is the Nutria 
monocline, represented by a hogback bordering the Zuni Moun- 
tains. North of Manuelito Plateau the Chaco syncline extends to 
San Juan Eiver. 

Black Mesa occupies the center of the Tusayan downwarp, a shal- 
low synclinal structure extending from the Chinle Valley to Echo 
Cliffs, a distance of nearly 100 miles. 

The Echo monocline is crossed by the section shown in Plate XXII 
a few miles north of Willow Springs. Southward from this point the 
monocline appears to die out gradually, but northward it extends 
as a bold escarpment, Echo Cliffs, which crosses Colorado Eiver and 
continues northward to the west base of Kaiparowitz Plateau. 

Along the Little Colorado anticlines with small dips are to be 
seen at Wolf Crossing and below Grand Falls. Black Point, pro- 
jecting into Little Colorado Eiver from the west, is a lava-capped 
monocline, produced by a vertical displacement of "not less than 
800 feet." 2 

1 U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 471, p. 93, 1911. 

2 Robinson, H. H., The San Franciscan volcanic field : U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 
76, p. 35, 1913. 

33033°— wsp 380—16 6 



82 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

Along the northern border of Arizona two laccolithic mountains, 
Carrizo and Navajo, rise high above the surrounding surface. West- 
ward from Carrizo Mountain the strata of the Gothic Mesa form a 
sj^nclinal basin, the western limb of which is the Comb monocline, 
which extends as a curved wall from Marsh Pass to and beyond San 
Juan River. Monument Valley, bisected by San Juan Eiver, is 
carved from the Monument upwarp, an anticlinal dome, the Avestern 
limb of which passes downward into the narrow and shalloAV Oljeto 
syncline. The eastern wall of Segi Mesas is formed by the Hos- 
kinnini monocline, Avhich gives a rise of 1,200 feet in a distance of 
about 2 miles. 

The structural features outlined above indicate the presence of a 
series of synclinal basins wdth long dip slopes, which offer suitable 
conditions for the storage of artesian water. 

GEOLOGIC HISTORY. 

The record of pre-Cambrian time within the limits of the Navajo 
country is exceedingly fragmentary, and is exposed for examination 
at only one point, namely, Quartzite Canyon, near Fort Defiance. 
At this locality a mass of quartzite in sharp unconformity Avith the 
overlying shales of the Moenkopi formation is revealed by erosion. 
Where the original bedding is decipherable the mass is seen to con- 
sist of coarse sandstone with interspersed lenses of conglomerate. 
The abundant ripple marks and sun-baked surfaces and the few mud 
cracks observed suggest subaerial deposition. Since deposition 
during Carboniferous time was continuous in adjoining areas, it is 
probable that this mass of quartzite remained as an island through 
Pennsylvanian and possibly through all earlier Paleozoic time. 

During Permian time the land was near sea level and w^as prob- 
abl}^ repeatedly submerged to no great depth. The invertebrate 
fossils so far collected are of marine types, but plant remains are 
abundant, and many of the beds exhibit subaerial features, and sug- 
gest a landscape of little relief exposed to an arid climate. 

Conditions prevailing during early Triassic time are unknown, 
and whether sediments of this age were deposited in the Mavajo 
country is only a matter of speculation. The first recorded deposit 
of Triassic age is the Shinarump conglomerate, which followed the 
Permian ( ? ) deposits after a long erosion interval. The coarse sili- 
ceous conglomerates of this formation, carrying a large proportion 
of fossil wood fragments, are probably of subaerial origin. After 
the Shinarump conglomerate had been laid down the region pre- 
sented a landscape marked by fresh and brackish water bodies, inter- 
laced with low-lying lands dotted with trees. Arid or semiarid 



GEOLOGIC SKETCH. • 83 

climates prevailed. This interpretation is based on the composition 
and structure of the sediments of the Chinle formation and on the 
evidence of fossils. What part, if any, was taken by the sea remains 
undetermined. 

With increasing aridity and elevation the Navajo country became 
a desert, with dunes piled high and with restricted and specialized 
animal and plant life. These conditions probably prevailed during 
the deposition of strata of the Jurassic La Plata group, the arrange- 
ment of which indicates eolian as well as fluviatile deposition. Aridity 
may have continued throughout Jurassic time, and the lands at this 
period probably extended over the area included in the Navajo and 
Hopi reservations. Bodies of water — salt, brackish, and fresh^ 
were present, and were apparently sparsely inhabited by fish and by 
invertebrates. That sufficient forage and water for animals were 
available is indicated by the skeletons of dinosaurs embedded in the 
rocks and by the footprints of those animals discovered in Navajo 
Canyon and elsewhere. That land at the close of Jurassic time was 
extensively developed is shown by the widespread erosional uncon- 
formity which separates strata provisionally assigned to this age 
from those of the overlying Cretaceous. This period of vigorous 
erosion, marked by the unconformity at the base of the Dakota, has 
removed all traces of deposits laid down during Comanche (Lower 
Cretaceous) time, if, indeed, any strata of this age were ever present. 

At the beginning of Upper Cretaceous time streams were active 
and portions of the area were represented by water bodies, which 
were swampy or estuarine in character. The heterogeneous material 
classed as Dakota sandstone appears to have been laid down mainly by 
streams. The sea was also present but appears to have confined its 
activities chiefly to the reworking of sediments previously deposited. 
For a long period after the deposition of the Dakota sandstone the 
land was alternately submerged and reelevated, so that shales and 
sandstones containing marine fossils alternating with beds of lig- 
nitic coal were deposited. The series thus formed has been named 
the Mancos shale. Throughout Mesaverde time also the sea and the 
land were alternately dominant in northeastern Arizona. 

With the coming of the Tertiary the sea is believed to have been 
permanently excluded from the area included in the Navajo country. 
Lacustrine deposits containing fresh-water shells tell of the pres- 
ence of lakes and tangentially cross-bedded sandstones suggest the 
work of winds. Volcanism was also active during this period and 
probably continued into the Quaternary. From the beginning of 
the Tertiary period date the major folds represented in the region 
and the consequent uplifts which, several times repeated, have 



84 ' THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

brought the land to its present position with respect to the sea. At 
one stage during late Tertiary time (Pliocene) erosion became domi- 
nant and reduced parts of the area to a peneplain. The gradient 
of the streams was later increased by a regional uplift, which enabled 
them greatly to reduce the area occupied by Mesozoic and Cenozoic 
strata. Other uplifts, amounting to 3,000 to 4,000 feet, still further 
augmented the power of the streams and enabled them to cut the 
canyons which form so conspicuous a feature of Navajo topography. 



Part II. SURFACE WATERS. 

STREAMS. 

MASTER STREAMS OF THE REGION". 

Three large rivers — ^the Colorado^ the San Juan, and the Little 
Colorado, with its tributary, the Puerco — mark the borders of the 
Navajo country. The Colorado, the master stream of the plateau 
province, eventually receives the surface water from the entire 
region except for an insignificant amount carried to the Rio Grande. 
From the mouth of the San Juan to Echo Cliffs the Colorado flows 
between the brightly colored walls of Glen Canyon ; below Lee Ferry 
it occupies the still more profound Marble Canyon. Throughout its 
course in the Navajo country it flows as a powerful stream whose 
moderate grade is interrupted by few rapids. 

The San Juan is a perennial stream. Along its upper course it 
receives the waters of vigorous tributaries which have their sources 
in the San Juan and La Plata mountains. Within the 90-mile 
stretch of winding channel from Bluff to Colorado River it receives 
no continuous supply of importance, but maintains a depth of 
3 to 5 feet even in the dry season.^ Measurements of flow taken 
at Farmington, N. Mex., gave the following results : 

Monthly discharge, in second^feet, of San Juan River at Farmington, N. Mex.^ 



Month. 



Maximum. Minimum. Mean 



June (12 days) . 

July 

August 

September 

October 

November 

December 



January... 
February.. 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August.... 
September. 
October... 
November. 
December.. 



1904. 



1905. 



1906. 



May 

Jime4 

June 8 (station discontinued) . 



1,300 

1,578 
4,980 
8,625 
20,000 
1,695 
780 



338 
2,582 
3,410 
7,460 
19, 100 
24,800 
8,240 
3,740 
4,870 
4,635 
2,708 
1,300 



780 

20 

1,450 

400 

2,625 

630 

90 



40 

230 

780 

1,085 

4,635 

10,960 

2,180 

840 

1,180 

1,180 

1,085 

840 



1,030 
375 
2,627 
1,375 
5,935 
1,087 
348 



242 
682 
1,625 
4,290 
10, 110 
18,270 
3.604 
i;747 
1,673 
1,690 
1,306 
1,084 



11,700 
9,090 
12,800 



all. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 133, pp. 180-183, 1904; Water-Supplv Paper 175, p. 134, 1906; 
Water-Supply Paper 211, p. lOi, 1908. 

1 The course of the San Juan below Blufl, as shown on published maps, is correct only with respect to 
general direction. 

85 



86 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 



The T^iieico-Little Colorado is an intermittent stream. From its 
source on the Continental Divide in New Mexico to Holbrook in Ari- 
zona it is marked at low water by a dry bed interrupted by stretches 
of stream rarely exceeding a mile in length. I have been informed that 
during parts of certain years no flowing water is to be found in the 
Puerco from Gallup westw^ard to its mouth. At Holbrook it joins the 
upper Little Colorado, a perennial stream from the White Mountains. 
Between Hardy and Winslow the Little Colorado receives the waters 
of Chevelon Fork and Clear Creek/ tributaries from the central 
Arizona highlands which give to the Little Colorado its perennial 
character throughout the 33-mile course from Holbrook to Winslow 
and make this section, including the settlements at Holbrook, St. 
Joseph, and Winslow the only part of the Puerco-Little Colorado 
Valley that has attained commercial importance. From Winslow to 
Colorado River, a distance of over 100 miles, the flow of the Little 
Colorado is seasonal, and during years of normal precipitation it 
reaches a stage where no running water is to be found except on the 
floor of the canyon near the junction with its master stream. The 
quantity of water it carries at Holbrook. where its continuous flow 
is largest, is given in the following table : 

MontMy discharge, in second-feet, of Little Colorado River at Holbrook, Ariz.^ 



Month. 



Maximum. 


Minimum. 


1,190 


718 


2,075 


504 


1,055 


145 


145 


44 


488 


5 


1,200 


33 


1,760 


15 


220 


19 


20,180 


30 


325 


45 


1,330 


165 


325 


73 


3,540 


60 


987 


100 


150 


5 


5 


3 


140 


3 


275 


15 


600 


4 


250 


5 


63 


4 


890 


25 


1,000 


90 


380 


73 


2,100 


115 


573 


290 



March (15 days). 

April 

May (25 days)... 

June 

July 

August 

September 

October 

November 

December ;. 



1905. 



January . . . 
February.. 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

September. 

Octolier 

November. 
December . 



1906. 



January . . 
February. 
March . .". . 
April 



1907. 



863 

915 

353 
82.6 
67.9 

163 

302 
50.7 
,159 

113 

452 

170 

621 

245 
54 
4.1 
24.9 
71.5 



26. 

11. 

181 

276 
176 
444 
401 



aU. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 133, pp. 180-183, 1904; Water-Supply Paper 175, p. 134, 1906; 
Water-Supply Paper 211, p. 101, 1908. 

1 In 1906 the ma.'cimum flow of Chevelon Fork near Winslow was 3,870 second-feet (in March), the 
minimum was 0.25 second-foot (September to November), and the mean for the year was 110 second- 
foot; from June 3 to December 31 of the same year the maximum discharge of Clear Creek near 
Winslow was 2,245 second-feet (in December), and the minimum was 3 second-feet (in A-Ugust) : 
U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 211, pp. 117, 119, 1908. The mean discharge of Clear Creek for 
the period has been computed as 52.9 second-feet. 



STREAMS. 87 

THROUGH-FLOWING STREAMS. 

The Colorado^ the San Juan, and the Little Colorado are the only 
streams of the Navajo country that carry water from areas beyond 
the limits of the reservation. Within the reservation the drainage 
from 9,897 square miles, an area which contains no perennial 
through-flowing streams, is directed toward the Puerco and Little 
Colorado. The Colorado receives the waters from Navajo Creek, a 
perennial stream through the 54 miles of its canyoned course and 
carrying at low stages nearly 2 second-feet of water. Several of the 
short, deep canyons entering the Colorado from the Rainbow Plateau 
contain minute streams; Oak Creek and Nasja furnish perennial 
supplies; and a rill of clear, pure water finds its way down Bridge 
Canyon, passing beneath the Rainbow Arch. The San Juan is the 
goal of Junction, Cha, and Desha creeks, which drain the northern 
slopes of Navajo Mountain and maintain a flow of 10 to 100 gallons 
a minute, even during the season when precipitation is lacking and 
evaporation assumes excessive proportions. 

The San Juan also receives perennial supplies from Piute Creek, 
which drains a narrow strip of land immediately adjoining its can- 
yoned valley. ( See PI. XVIII, J. , p. 69. ) In July, 1910, the estimated 
flow of Piute Creek 6 miles above its mouth was 0.20 second-foot, 
and the average of two estimates made in June, 1913, at points near 
the head of the canyon was 0.15 second-foot. Nokai, Copper, and 
Moonlight canyons hold trickling rills of water which find their way 
into the San Juan. Gypsum Creek, which drains the eastern half 
of Monument Valley, is rarely dry. The longest stream of perennial 
flow which finds its way to the borders of the reservation is Tyende 
Creek. This stream emerges from the many-branched Laguna Can- 
yon at Marsh Pass, winds its way through the hogback rim of 
Monument Valley, traverses Sahotsoidbeazhe Canyon, and enters 
Chinle Valley, which it follows to the San Juan. At Marsh Pass 
the discharge during the dry season is about 1.70 second-feet, which 
is the largest flow noted at any point along the stream during the 
months of June and July, 1909, 1910, and 1913. 

INTERMITTENT STREAMS. 

Within the liiAits of the reservation are a number of intermittent 
streams that occupy well-defined drainage channels but reach their 
master streams only during the rainy season. Three of these streams, 
the Moenkopi, Black Creek, and the Pueblo Colorado, are tributary 
to the Puerco and Little Colorado. 

MOENKOPI CREEK. 

Of all the tributaries of the lower Little Colorado the Moenkopi 
(Hopi, running water) flows most continuously and responds most 



88 ^HE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 

readily to seasonal precipitation. Topographically it is separable 
into three sections of subequal length. The upper third (25 miles) 
is intrenched in the Cretaceous strata of Black Mesa, forming a nar- 
row, steep-walled canyon, joined by tributaries that occupy valleys 
of similar shape. The terraces and flats on the canyon floor are a few 
acres in extent and are discontinuous. The stream is fed during the 
dry season by a few springs and seeps distributed along its course, 
which supply an interrupted flow of 10 to 30 gallons a minute. At 
Blue Canyon (Navajo, Bokogo dotklish) the intermittent stream 
emerges from the dark-gray rocks of the upper canyon and enters 
the second part of its course, where it is confined between low walls 
of brilliantly colored sandstones of Jurassic age. During this stretch 
of 30 miles, between Blue Canyon and the cliffs west of Tuba, the 
stream is alternately buried by sand and brought to the surface by 
ledges of rock. Patches of alluvium, 10 to 50 acres in extent, flanking 
the stream channel, from time to time have been reclaimed by irriga- 
tion, occasionally at considerable expense. Near Moenkopi village 
the underflow of the stream is brought to the surface by exposed rock 
ledges and is supplemented by supplies from Eeservoir Canyon and 
from numerous springs of the vicinity. The combined flow of water 
from these sources amounts, even in dry seasons, to perhaps 5 
second-feet and exceeds that at any other locality on the reservation. 
Fortunately wide valley flats below Moenkopi village are favorably 
situated for irrigation, and agriculture has here reached a higher 
stage of development than elsewhere in the Navajo country. The 
Spanish pioneers found at Moenkopi cultivated fields of corn and 
of cotton, and the Mormon settlers of the Tuba oasis used these same 
fields for corn, wheat, oats, and alfalfa. Under the direction of the 
Indian Office, Hopi, Navajo, and white men now work side by side 
in cultivating this garden spot surrounded by an inhospitable desert. 
The lower part of the Moenkopi wanders for 20 miles through the 
Painted Desert to join the canyon of the Little Colorado. Through- 
out this stretch of subdued topography its flow is intermittent and the 
Triassic shales which form its bed yield alkali which renders the 
water unpalatable. 

BLACK CREEK. 

From its source in Chuska Mountain to Eed Lake the waters of 
Black Creek are in view except for stretches of a fraction of a mile. 
Swamps and seeps mark the sources of the various branches, and 
flat valley floors, susceptible of irrigation, line the stream for several 
miles. The run-off from 230 square miles, constituting the drainage 
area of this portion of Black Creek, including Red Lake, was found 
by the engineers of the Indian Service to be 33,328 acre-feet a year. 
From Red Lake to St. Michaels Black Creek occupies a shallow 
arroyo cut in the floor of a wide, flat-bottomed valley. Within this 



STEEAMS. 89 

distance water is present even in the dry season, as short stream 
stretches, interrupted by expanses of dry sandy floor. The stream 
is also intermittent along its course from St. Michaels to Oak Spring, 
below which it becomes perennial while passing through lower Black 
Creek Canyon, assuming once more an intermittent character in the 
10-mile stretch ending at Puerco Eiver. Two short tributaries to 
Black Creek, one from Buell Park, the other at St. Michaels, are 
perennial for a mile or so of their upper courses and reach their 
master stream for about six months in a year. A third tributary, 
Bonito Creek, rising in Quartzite Canyon, discharges at low water 
0.87 second-foot,^ and though only about 5 miles long has determined 
the location of Fort Defiance and made possible the irrigated fields 
and gardens which give to this spot its attractive features. 

PUEBLO COLORADO WASH. 

Nearly 1,250 square miles of the Defiance Plateau is drained by the 
Pueblo Colorado Wash, the upper 18 miles of which, from its source 
to Ganado, is a perennial stream, its discharge at low water being 
perhaps 2 second-feet. (See p. 110.) From Ganado to Holbrook, a 
distance of more than 100 miles, the stream flows only in response to 
showers. The terraces along the canyon in the upper portion and the 
wide flats below the mouth of the canyon have been cultivated by 
means of irrigation since the days of the cliff dwellers, and this per- 
manent supply of water in the midst of an arid expanse has made of 
Ganado an important center of agricultural and commercial activity 
for the Navajos and the white traders. 

CHINLE DRAINAGE SYSTEM. 

The 4,790 square miles of the Navajo Reservation included in the 
Chinle drainage area comprises a region intimately associated with 
the life of the Navajo race and with the history of the prehistoric 
populations of the plateau province. Cliff ruins are found in nearly 
all the canyoned tributaries and traces of ancient irrigated fields are 
distributed far and wide through the valleys. Following the cliff 
dweller and the Hopi, the Navajo has occupied the favorable spots 
within the Chinle basin and practiced agriculture by irrigation and 
dry farming, making use of his knowledge of fluctuation in stream 
flow. The main Chinle is ephemeral in its flow from its head, 6 
miles northwest of Ganado, to Chinle, a distance of 38 miles. From 
Chinle to the mouth of Tyende Creek the stream is ephemeral or in 
rare years intermittent during the dry season, with the proportion 
of waterless bed much in excess of flowing stretches. Below the 
mouth of the Tyende the flow of the Chinle is permanent, except 
where obstructed for short distances by accumulations of wind- 

1 Measured by Lieut. H. C. Brown, October, 1892. 



90 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

blown sand. Above the Tyende the western tributaries of the Chinle 
contain no perennial waters except for stretches usually less than a 
mile in length immediately below the springs which supply them. 
Some of these short streams have their origin in the Mancos shale 
or Chinle formation, and contain an amount of salts which renders 
their waters unfit for domestic uses. From the east the Chinle re- 
ceives the drainage from Nazlini Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, Can- 
yon del Muerto, Lukachukai Valley, and Walker Creek valley — 
channels whose upper parts, at least, are occupied by perennial 
streams. The Nazlini, at the exit from its canyon, has, in the dry 
season, a small j)ermanent discharge, which decreases downstream 
Until the flow becomes intermittent and finally disappears. The De 
Chelly is fed by small perennial streams — ^Whiskey Creek, Palisade 
Creek, and Wheatfields Creek — which rise in the Chuska Mountains 
and furnish Canyon de Chelly with a supply of water that is aug- 
mented by springs distributed along its course. Where measured, 6 
miles from its mouth, the De Chelly, in May, 1909, had an estimated 
flow of 0.60 second-foot. 

Canyon del Muerto is the lower part of Spruce Brook, which 
emerges from Tunitcha Mountain as a clear stream of pure water 
with a discharge exceeding 1 second-foot. Spruce Brook drops into 
Canyon del Muerto at Sehili,^ and continues with more or less inter- 
rupted flow to its junction with Canyon de Chelly. Along the lower 
reaches of Whiskey, Palisade, and Wheatfields creeks and Spruce 
Brook, the flats adjoining the streams are favorably situated for 
irrigation. Below the mouth of Canyon del Muerto the De Chelly 
is normally without flowing water during the dry season. 

Lukachukai Creek forms the division line between the Tunitcha and 
Lukachukai mountains. From its source at the crest of the moun- 
tains to the Lukachukai settlement, at the mountain base, the stream 
occupies a narrow wooded valle}^ and carries even in the dry season 
2 or 3 second-feet of water. For 6 or 8 miles below Lukachukai the 
creek maintains a perennial flow but assumes an intermittent char- 
acter in the vicinity of Eound Eock. Below this point the bed is 
normally dry for a few months each year. The colony of enterpris- 
ing Navajos at Lukachukai make use of the waters of this stream to 
irrigate about 200 acres of corn, alfalfa, and garden lands. 

The west side of Carrizo Mountain is drained by Walker Creek.^ 
The upper portion of the stream, emerging from the narrow, steep- 

1 Sehili in the Navajo language means the place where water disappears into a canyon ; 
Chinle, the place where water emerges from a canyon mouth. 

2 In the absence of a recognized name for this stream the liberty is taken of naming it 
Walker Creek in honor of Capt. Walker, of Macomb's expedition of 1859. Capt. Walker 
crossed the stream at Ojo de Casa (Navajo: Hogan sa-a-ni, lone house in the desert). 
The term Gothic Wash, used on many maps, is discarded, as this name was given by 
Macomb to a dry canyon entering the San Juan below Bluff. See map accompanying 
report on the exploring expedition, etc., in 1859, under the command of Capt. J. N. 
Macomb, Eng. Dept., U. S. Army, Washington, 1876. 



STREAMS. 91 

floored canyon, is called by the Navajos Chinlini (place where water 
comes out of a canyon) ; the lower middle portion is sometimes 
spoken of as Mexican Water, a name still retained for the store at 
the point where the Mormon Road of 1879 crossed the creek. Walker 
Creek is perennial, except for widely separated short stretches. 
After leaving its upper canyon at Chinlini the stream occupies a 
trench cut in the alluvial floor of a rock- walled canyon and in many 
places rests on rock. Near its junction with the Chinle the canyon 
is wide and the stream finds its way with more or less interrupted 
flow between terraces which indicate the level of a previous stage of 
water. The flow of Walker Creek at Chinlini as estimated is 0.70 
second-foot, and I am informed that at the Mexican Water store the 
discharge during the summer season is about 500 gallons a minute. 

In addition to the streams mentioned, two short creeks. Sheep Dip, 
about 12 miles north of Chinle School, and Agua Sal, entering Luka- 
chukai Creek north of Round Rock, flow intermittently toward their 
master streams. The water of Sheep Dip Creek is palatable, but that 
of Agua Sal is said to be unfit for general use. 

To the Chinle system belongs also Simpson Creek, which rises in 
the meadows as Washington Pass and crosses the New Mexico- 
Arizona boundary line near Crystal, on its way to Black Lake. The 
New Mexico portion of the stream is perennial and increases the 
attractiveness of the Washington Pass route from Fort Defiance to 
the San Juan. Before reaching Black Lake, however, Simpson 
Creek becomes intermittent and the extreme lower part flows during 
the dry season only in response to showers. 

STREAMS TRIBUTARY TO CHUSKA VALLET. 

On the eastern flanks of the Chuska Mountains are a number of 
short, perennial, or intermittent streams which occupy the upper 
portions of canyoned valleys whose ultimate goal is the poorly de- 
fijied drainage system of the Chuska Valley. The southernmost of 
these streams, Figueredo Creek, crossed by the Fort Defiance- 
Tohachi Road, is perennial for about 5 miles of its course, with a 
volume in dry seasons of about 30 gallons a minute. In the gap west 
of Chuska Peak another small stream of permanent flow was noted, 
and along the rim of Chuska Mountain, between Tohachi and Wash- 
ington Pass, are several rills, each less than a mile long, which repre- 
sent the overflow from springs. At Washington Pass a brook 2 
miles or more in length discharges 20 to 25 gallons a minute through 
all seasons. At Toadlena is another short brook, and in the wide 
amphitheater south of Beautiful Mountain short streams with 
permanent or intermittent flows emerge from the plexus of profound 
canyons which gash the east face of Tunitcha Mountain. The 



92 THE N^AVAJO COUNTRY. 

largest of these, Tseanazti Creek, has long been used for irrigation 
by cliff dweller and Navajo. Toward the Chuska Valley are di- 
rected also several short intermittent streams which rise on the 
northwest front of Dutton Plateau. Five visited by my party were 
all more or less alkaline, but not to an extent which rendered them 
useless for watering sheep. Selukai Creek, on which is located the 
Government sheep dip, is usually dry except during the rainy season. 

ADDITIONAL STREAMS. 

In the canyons of Redrock Valley short streams of intermittent 
flow were found to furnish sufficient supplies for camp and for wan- 
dering bands of sheep. Eleven valleys on the slopes of Carrizo 
Mountain hold in their upper courses tiny rills of perennial flow. 
Only three of these — Walker Creek, Biltabito, and Tisnasbas — flow 
continuously from the top to the base of the mountain during the 
dry season, and the discharge from the largest of these streams, 
Tisnasbas, was found by Dr. Emery, in July, 1913, to be 0.20 second- 
foot. On Black Mesa one permanent stream was observed, in addi- 
tion to several short trickling rills, the outflow from springs. This 
stream, the Tahchito, maintains a flow of 20 to 30 gallons a minute 
for a distance of about 5 miles. 

DRAINAGE OBSTRUCTED BY DUNES. 

Valleys trending southwest from Shato Plateau furnish a resting 
place for the wind-blown sand stripped from the surface of Kaibito 
Plateau, and the streams in the valleys are accordingly blocked from 
place to place. After rains Shato and Begashibito brooks are merely 
a series of lakes and pools tied together by streams. During the 
dry season the valley axis resembles a string of beads and the flow 
of the stream is so completely interrupted that lakes bordered by 
vegetation are separated from one another by stretches of dry floor 
heaped with dunes. 

EPHEMERAL STREAMS.* 

The through-flowing and intermittent streams described above 
traverse less than 1 per cent of the linear extent of drainage chan- 
nels in the Navajo country. During the dry season the ratio of valleys 
occupied by streams to vallej^s without water is, for channels exceed- 
ing 25 miles in length, about 1 : 100, and for channels between 5 and 
10 miles in length about 1 : 340. Except during the rainy season 
the area drained by perennial surface waters is perhaps less 
than 5 per cent of the 25,725 square miles constituting the area under 

* On the map (PI. T) ephemeral streams are not separately indicated. The longer ones 
are included with " intermittent " streams ; most of them are not shown. 



STREAMS. 



93 



discussion. No permanent stream, except the Moenkopi, was found 
west of the Chinle Valley and south of latitude 36° 14', a district 
constituting about one-half of the reservation. The Kaibito Plateau 
and a large part of the Gothic Mesas are also without perennial 
drainage. 

With the coming of the rains conditions are radically modified and 
the dry valley floors are covered with rivers and tributary brooks. A 
single shower may convert any one of a score of intermittent rills 
into a through-flowing stream, and raise a group of dry washes to 
the dignity of rivers. During the season of daily rains, the last part 
of July and August, the aspect of the country is entirely changed. 
The Chinle system becomes integrated, and tributaries of the third 
and fourth degree contribute their daily supply. During this period 
the forbidding dry, hot valleys leading to the Little Colorado are 
transformed into a series of silt-laden rivers exceeding 100 miles in 
length, and the Little Colorado itself becomes a river of command- 
ing proportions, ranking with the Gila and the San Juan in the 
volume of water carried to the Colorado. Throughout the extent 
of the Navajo country the ephemeral or seasonal stream is the pre- 
vailing type, and all studies relating to the development of water 
resources in the Colorado Plateau province should include this factor 
of primary importance. 

SUMMARY TABLE OF STREAMS. 

The drainage area, length, and type of stream on the reservation 
are indicated in the following table. Distances and areas and the 
relation of tributaries to master streams are based on the recon- 
naissance topographic maps of the United States Geological Survey ; 
statements regarding the characteristics of the streams are taken 
from field notes, supplemented by information supplied by Navajos, 
Indian traders, and Government officers. 

Principal streams of the Navajo country. 



Name. 



Puerco and Little Col- 
orado. 

Puerco River 

Black Creek 

Bonito Creek.. 

Lithodendron Creek 

Little Colorado below 
junction with Puerco. 

Leroux Wash 

Pueblo Colorado Wash. 



Drainage 
area. 



Sq. miles. 
9,897 

1,326 
272 



38.5 
156 
,571.5 



203.5 
1,247 



Length. 



Miles, 
252 



4 
28 
156 



Type. 



Intermittent 

Perennial 16 miles at head; peren- 
nial for 6 miles below Oak Spring; 
remainder intermittent. 

Perennial 

Ephemeral 

Perennial between Holbrook and 
Winslow; intermittent for 5 
miles below Winslow; ephem- 
eral 92 miles. 

Ephemeral 

Intermittent 10 miles at upper end; 
perennial for 8 miles above Ga- 
nado; ephemeral from Ganado 
to mouth. 



Character of water. 



Heavily silt laden ex- 
cept at low water. 

Clear, fi-esh. 



Muddy except at ex- 
tremely low water; 
slightly allcaline and 
salty. 



94 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 
Principal streams of the Navajo country — Continued. 



Name. 



Wide Ruin Wasli 

Cottonwood Wash 

Corn Creek (from To- 

lani Lakes to mouth). 

Coyote Wash 

Jadito Wash 

First Mesa Wash 

Wepo Wash 

Second Mesa Wash 

Oraibi Wash 

Dinnebito Wash 

Moenkopi Creek, not 

inchiding Red Lake 

Valley drainage. 
Moenkopi Wash (Tuba 

to mouth). 
Red Lake and Klethla 

valleys. 
Colorado River di'ainage 
Navajo Creek 

Bridge Creek 

San Juan River drain- 
age (San Juan River 
below Farmington). 

Piute Creek 

Nokai Creek ra 

Copper Creeko 

Moonlight Creek (in- 
cluding Segihatsosi 
drainage). 

Gypsum Creek 

Chinle Creek (or wash) . 

Walker Creek 

Tyende Creek 

Lukachukai Creek 

Agua Sal Creek 

Canyon de Chelly Creek 

Spruce Brook 

Canyon del Muert oCr eek 
Wheatfields Creek...... 

Palisade Creek 

Whiskey Creek 

Simpson Creek 

Monument Creek 

Nazlini Creek 

Beautiful Valley Wash. 

Gothic Wash 

Desert Creek 

Arido Creek. 

Tisnasbas Creek 

Biltabito Creek 

Red Wash..... 



Standing R e d r o c k 

Creek. 
Blackhorse Creek 



Rio Chaco. 



Drainage 

area. 



Sq. 



miles. 

445 

527.5 



338.5 
623 
672. 5 
179 
67 
652 
872 



367 
312 



,877 
770 



23 
13,951 



285 

246 
26 

477 



169 
,790 

387 
975 
325 



103.5 

162.5 

73 
107.5 

87 
16 
49 
80.5 

100 
243 

155 
197 

87 
166 

73.5 



521 



67 



4.791 



Length. 



Miles. 
38 
58 
13 

28 
50 
56 
21 
30 
85 
100 
76 



162 
54 



7 
220 



30 
104 

38 
62 
30 



Type. 



Ephemeral. 

do 

....do 



.do. 



Perennial 35 miles; intermittent 18 
miles; ephemeral 23 miles. 

Perennial except for short stretches 

Ephemeral except at lower end. . . 



PerenniaL 
....do..... 



.do. 
.do. 



.do. 



Perennial 4 miles; intermittent 18 
miles; ephemeral 20 miles. 



Perennial, lower portion 

Ephemeral 86 miles; intermittent 

18 miles. 

Perennial 

do 

Perennial 10 miles; intermittent 

14 miles. 



Ephemeral 6 miles; intermittent 

8 miles; ephemeral 16 miles. 
Perermial 15 miles; intermittent 

lower 5 miles. 

Perennial 

Intermittent 

Perennial 

...do 

...do 

Perennial 10 miles; ephemeral 2 

miles. 

Intermittent 

Perennial 9 miles; intermittent 3 

miles; ephemeral 12 miles. 

Ephemeral 

do 

....do 

Ephemeral or intermittent 

Perennial 6 miles; intermittent 2 

miles; ephemeral 10 miles. 
Perennial 3 miles; intermittent 4 

miles; ephemeral 8 m-iles. 
Intermittent; ephemeral 



Perennial 9 miles; intermittent 2 
miles; ephemeral 2 miles. 

Perennial 3 miles; intermittent 9 
miles. 

Ephemeral with intermittent 
stretches. 



Character of water. 



Alkaline. 



Heavily silt laden. 
Clear, fresh, except in 

flood seasons. 
Clear, fresh. 
Silt laden except at low 

water. 

Fresh, clear, except in 

flood seasons. 
Do. 
Fresh, clear. 
Clear, fresh, in upper 

portions. 

Alkaline; mipalatable. 
Silt laden except at 

lowest stages. 
Clear, fresh. 

Do. 
Clear, fresh from source 
to Round Rock; 
slightly alkaline be- 
low. 
Reported to be alka- 
line. 
Fresh, clear, except in 

flood. 
Clear, fresh. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Fresh, clear, except 

lower 4 miles. 
Fresh, clear. 
Fresh, clear, in can- 
yoned portion. 



Fresh, clear, in upper 
portion. 

Fresh, clear, in peren- 
nial portion. 

Slightly alkaline ex- 
cept at head tribu- 
taries. 

Clear, fresh. 

Do, 



a The area drained and the length of Nokai Creek are rough approximations only. The topography 
of this area as shown on the Marsh Pass and Henry Mountains maps gives an en'oneous idea of the drainage 
relations of Copper, Nokai, and Piute canyons. 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 95 

FACTORS INFLUENCING STREAM FLOW. 

PRECIPITATION. 
AMOUNT. 

With the exception of the San Juan, the Colorado, and the Little 
Colorado, the streams of the Navajo country are fed by water that 
falls Avithin its borders. The annual mean precipitation has been 
determined at a few points (see pp. 50-59) and found to be small 
in amount and to vary widely at different localities. The records 
for Fort Defiance and St. Michaels, at elevations of about 6,900 
feet, giving a mean annual fall of 12.80 inches, represent fairly 
the combined rainfall and snowfall for Defiance Plateau, Black 
Creek Valley, Manuelito Plateau, and Dutton Plateau, are doubtless 
somewhat too low for the Chuska Mountains and Carrizo Mountain 
and are probably slightly too high for Black Mesa. 

The mean annual precipitation of 10.62 inches at Chinle (elevation 
about 6,400 feet) is probably higher than for Chinle Valley as a 
whole, as well as for Monument Valle}^ and the Gothic Mesas. The 
average annual precipitation at Holbrook is 9.15 inches. It may be 
noted that evaporation at Holbrook during this same period aver- 
aged 46.32 inches, that is, more than five times the amount of rainfall. 
These figures may reasonably be extended to cover the Hopi Buttes, 
the Tusayan Washes, and the upper Puerco and Little Colorado 
Valley. 

The area centering at Tuba is the most arid part of the Navajo 
country. The records of rainfall at this station give an average pre- 
cipitation of 5.30 inches, a figure that may be extended to cover the 
Kaibito Plateau, and possibly also the Moenkopi Plateau and a large 
part of the Rainbow Plateau. Judging from the vegetation, Shato 
Plateau and Segi Mesas receive 20 to 30 per cent more rain than is 
recorded at Tuba. On the other hand the precipitation in the Painted 
Desert below Grand Falls probably reaches, on the average, less 
than 3 inches, and in some years the total rainfall has been insuffi- 
cient to produce run-off. On one occasion, according to reports of a 
Navajo headman, two years in succession were marked by the absence 
of rain at Tanner Crossing. 

Navajo Mountain, which rises 4,000 feet above its plateau base, is 
visited by rainclouds which pass unchanged across the lower lands 
to the west and probably receives precipitation, including snow, of 
more than 20 inches, sufficient to support a relatively luxuriant 
vegetable cover. A mean annual precipitation of 6.92 inches at 
Hite, Utah, 40 miles north of the mouth of San Juan Eiver, may 
be taken as representative of the immediate valley of Colorado 
River from Lee Ferry to the mouth of Fremont River. The rain- 
fall along the middle and upper San Juan Valley is fairly repre- 



96 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

sented by the records at Aneth, which give a mean annual precipita- 
tion of 4.96 inches, and at Fruitland, which receives on the average 
6.89 inches of rain a year. 

Carrizo Mountain, like Navajo Mountain, rises as a solitary mass 
to a height of 9,420 feet, and receives probably more than twice the 
rain that falls in San Juan Valley at its base. 

DISTRIBUTION IN TIME. 

The average of the means of annual precipitation for Fort Defiance 
and St. Michaels, Keams Canyon, Holbrook, Winslow, Tuba, Chinle, 
Aneth, Fruitland, and Hite is 8.29 inches, a figure which, for present 
purposes, may be considered as the annual rainfall for the Navajo 
country as a whole. It will be readily understood that this amount 
is scarcely sufficient to maintain permanent flow even if the rain 
were evenly distributed throughout the year and from year to year, 
thus giving a mean monthly precipitation of about 0.62 inch. Any 
opportunity, however, which the rainfall might otherwise have of 
furnishing the watercourses with continuous small flows is offset by 
the nature of the precipitation in which the following elements are 
dominant. 

VARIATION THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. 

When records for all stations are compared, it appears that the 
rainfall of the reservation is characterized by a maximum during 
July, August, and September and a minimum during April, May, 
and June. January and February and, to a less degree, December 
are months in which a small amount of rain is to be expected ; Octo- 
ber and November are nearly always dry. The seasonal variation 
at Holbrook is as follows : Spring, 1.41 inches ; summer, 3.32 inches ; 
autumn, 2.41 inches; and winter, 2.01 inches. In descending order 
of the amount of rainfall at Holbrook the months may be arranged 
as follows: July, August, November, September, January, October, 
February, March, December, April, May, and June. The figures 
for Keams Canyon are: Spring, 1.76 inches; summer, 3.77 inches; 
autumn, 2.28 inches; winter, 3.13 inches. July and August are the 
wettest months, followed in turn by December, March, October, 
February, January, September, November, April, June, and May. 
Chinle receives 2.29 inches of rain during the winter, 1.25 inches in 
the spring, 4.31 in summer, and 2.77 in the autumn. The greatest 
precipitation occurs during July, that of August, December, Septem- 
ber, October, March, February, April, June, November, January, and 
May following in descending order. 

The fact that the months group themselves naturally into wet 
and dry seasons results in a higher percentage of run-off for the 
Navajo country than if rain were evenly distributed throughout the 



FACTOES INFLUENCING STREAM FLOW. 97 

year. During periods of concentrated rainfall evaporation is less- 
ened and the amount of water absorbed by the ground is decreased. 
Slight continuous precipitation at intervals favors the maximum 
accumulation of ground water and consequent decrease in amount 
of run-off. 

VARIATION FROM YEAR TO YEAR. 

Dry years and relatively wet years are indicated by the records of 
stations in the Navajo country, and great inequalities in the monthly 
precipitation from year to year are also noticeable. (See dis- 
cussion under " Climate," pp. 60-61.) The run-off increases with an 
increase in the amount of precipitation, but is not directly propor- 
tional to the rainfall. In fact, the difference between maximum 
and minimum run-off may exceed the difference betAveen maximum 
and minimum of mean annual precipitation by several hundred per 
cent. 

VIOLENT SHOWERS OF SHORT DURATION. 

The rain in the Navajo country falls in violent showers, which 
may last a few hours or only a few minutes. Rains that fall as 
gentle downpours and continue for a day or more are rare. Thunder- 
showers during which clouds gather, rain falls, and the sky again 
clears, all within the space of half an hour or less, are typical. 

Snow falls in winter at all elevations above 5,000 feet and in some 
years at lower elevations. Hailstorms are not uncommon. 

Sudden heavy showers tend to increase the proportion of the total 
rainfall that is carried away by streams. An inch or so of the ground 
may become saturated during the first few minutes of such storms 
and the water which later falls may nearly all form part of the 
run-off. (See p. 63.) 

EVAPORATION. 

The mean annual temperature for the coldest station on the Navajo 
Reservation proper, namely. Fort Defiance, is 47.6°, the winter mean 
being 28.6°, and the summer mean 66°. For Holbrook the figures are 
annual mean 54.2°, winter mean 34.9°, summer mean 71.6°. Be- 
cause of the arid conditions the nights on the reservation are prevail- 
ingly cool and the relatively low mean annual temperatures recorded 
give little indication of the almost continuous high temperatures of 
the day. Temperatures exceeding 100° may be experienced for 15 
or 20 days each year at Holbrook, Winslow, Tuba, Chinle, Fruitland, 
Aneth, and Hite. During the summer months the day temperatures 
in the lower San Juan Valley, the Painted Desert, the Chinle Val- 
ley, the Hopi Buttes, and the Tusayan Washes rarely fall below 90°. 
33033°— wsp 380—16 7 



98 THE IsTAVAJO COUNTEY. 

The mean relative humidity at Flagstaff, the only station in this 
region for which records are available, is, for the years 1905 to 1911, 
66, 62, 63.5, 59, 73, 57.5, and 51 per cent, respectively, an annual mean 
of 61.8 per cent. The figures for June drop below 40 per cent. It is 
colder and much wetter at Flagstaff than in the region to the east, 
and the relative humidity is consequently higher. For the Navajo 
Eeservation as a whole the estimate of relative humidity may safely 
be placed below 50 per cent. 

High temperature and low humidity are the chief causes for the 
high figures assigned to evaporation in the Navajo country. At 
Holbrook the measured amount of evaporation was for 1906, 49.81 
inches; 1907, 42.07 inches; 1908, 48.62 inches; 1909, 45.38 inches; a 
mean of 46.41 inches — that is, the evaporation was 300 to 400 per 
cent greater than the rainfall (9.15 inches) at this station. In the 
lower Lattle Colorado Valley, where the daily range of tempei^ature 
exceeds 50° and where temperatures of over 100° are not uncommon, 
rough measurements indicate an annual evaporation of over 60 inches. 
Since evaporation is directly proportional to the temperature the 
amount of water capable of being dissipated into the air is greater 
during the summer, the time when the maximum amount of water 
is needed for the support of vegetation and to maintain the flow of 
dwindling streams. The seasonal distribution of evaporation for 
Holbrook for the four-year period 1906 to 1909 is: Winter, 6.34; 
spring, 11.20; summer, 18.67; fall, 10.20. Streams therefore are 
likely to flow with greater regularity during the fall and winter 
than during the other two seasons of the year. The influence of 
evaporation is strikingly shown by the well-known phenomenon of 
increased surface flow during nighttime. In early morning rills 
are found to have lengthened and to have increased in volume and 
intermittent stretches to have become through flowing. The amount 
of stream lengthening, as noted by members of my party, varies be- 
tween 20 and 1,000 feet. The wiser heads among the Navajos take 
advantage of this fact and water their herds before the sun's heat 
has affected the flow. 

SOIL. 

Bare rock constitutes a large proportion of the surface of the 
Navajo Reservation outside the larger washes. On the Eainbow 
Plateau and among the Gothic Mesas 20 to 40 per cent of the surface 
is bare or strewn only with loose gravel; in the other provinces the 
amount of exposed rock surface may equal 3 to 10 per cent. The flat 
tops of the Chuska Mountains and of Dutton and Moenkopi plateaus, 
Black Mesa, and Segi Mesas are covered with thin soil of high 
porosity, resulting from local disintegration of sandstone. For the 
region as a whole the soil is, however, mainly accumulated in the 



FACTORS INFLUENCING STEEAM FLOW. 99 

washes and along the smaller stream channels, where deposits ex- 
ceeding 50 feet in depth are not unusual. The relatively small 
amounts of limestone and shale contributed by decomposing ledges 
gives to these alluvial deposits a composition almost wholly of sand 
and gravels. Evaporation dries the sands between showers and the 
streams accordingly find along their courses porous material which 
imbibes flowing water with avidity. 

VEGETATION. 

Approximately 5 per cent of the Navajo country may properly 
be called " forested " in the sense of extensive areas of trees, chiefly 
yellow pine, exceeding 40 or 50 feet in height. An additional area, 
perhaps 20 per cent, is covered with pinon and juniper 10 to 20 
feet high and numbering 100 to 200 individuals per acre ; probably 
one-half of the remaining 75 per cent of the total area of the reserva- 
tion is marked by scattered pihon and juniper, with 5 to 20 trees 
per acre. Sage, greasewood, and grass, widely variable in amount 
and luxuriance of growth, are found among the trees and between 
the bare stretches of rock and soil outside the forested areas. 

The general effect of vegetation is to lower evaporation by shut- 
ting out winds and sunshine, to facilitate the accumulation of snow- 
drifts, and to retard run- off. The influence thus exerted partly com- 
pensates for the loss of water occasioned by transpiration* The 
nature of the cover of vegetation is, however, a matter of prime im- 
portance and the character of the flora on the Navajo country is such 
that the effect of vegetation on stream flow is not that noted in more 
humid regions. Leaf mold and forest litter is practically absent 
except on the Chuska Mountains, Button Plateau, and at the heads 
of valleys on Carrizo and Navajo mountains. At these and other 
localities similarly situated the horizontal attitude of strata rather 
than the presence of trees is responsible for the retention of vegetable 
debris. In the forest on Defiance Plateau (the most extensive area 
of merchantable timber on the reservation) the trees are wide 
spaced, and bare rock floor or rock coated with a thin soil deficient in 
organic material is more extensive than areas covered by pine needles 
(PL XXIII, A). On several occasions it was noted that the first 
shower of summer stripped the ledge bare and filled the watercourses 
with quantities of cones and other debris. Along the steep slopes 
trees commonly emerge from cracks in bare ledges. The run-off is 
somewhat retarded by these open forests and to an even greater 
extent by the tangle of oak and pinon in the small valleys at the bases 
of cliffs. Taken as a whole, sagebrush and grass tufts appear to be 
much more effective than trees in retarding run-off and facilitating 
soil absorption in this region. At no place observed was the perma- 



100 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

nence of stream flow affected by forests to any large extent, and it is 
probable that if the forests of the reservation were replaced by fields 
of sage and grass and shrubs the behavior of the streams would not 
be appreciably affected. The storage of ground water likewise ap- 
pears to be relatively little influenced by the presence of forest 
cover, and it is believed that for the Navajo country the amount of 
water which is absorbed by rock and soil, and w^hich later appears 
as springs at lower levels, depends more on flatness of slope and local 
depressions than on the distribution of vegetation. This belief is 
strengthened by a study of the Hopi Buttes, where water falling 
upon the fissured, roughened surface of lava-capped mesas is led with 
unusual directness to the springs issuing at the base of the cliffs. On 
Chuska Mountain, also, the porous Tertiary sandstone dotted with 
pits and hollows produces the line of springs which emerge at the 
mountain base. 

EROSION or THE VALLEY FILL. 

During the last 20 or 30 years, in consequence of overgrazing and 
probably, too, of climatic change, the alluvial floors of canyons and 
washes have been trenched by streams, and the normal valley profile 
has been changed from a flat-floored, rock-walled gorge to a valley, 
including an inner canyon 10 to 50 feet deep, whose walls are of allu- 
vium (PL XXiy, A ) . This new development has resulted in enlarg- 
ing the amount and increasing the permanence of stream flow. A 
number of perennial springs and seeps issuing from the base of the 
alluvium in the new-made can^^ons and arroyos have been added to 
the reservation within the last 30 years, and the amount of surface 
water has been increased accordingly at the expense of the ground- 
water supply. My Navajo interpreters state that the flow of Tyende 
Creek and of the lower Chinle is more regular than formerly, and 
Mr. A. B. Eandall, wlio has been familiar with the conditions at 
Tuba since its colonization by the Mormons in 1876-1878, informed 
me that since 1880, when the Moenkopi began to intrench itself in 
the alluvium, the permanent flow of that stream has increased 600 
to 800 per cent. 

WORK or THE WIND. 

Wind-blown sand has affected stream flow on the Kaibito, Shato, 
Rainbow, and Moenkopi plateaus, in the Little Colorado Valley, and 
in a lesser degree at other localities. Shallow basins in bare rock, 
depressions formerly connected w^ith drainage systems, were observed 
in many places. Dune areas, both shifting and stationary, in the 
Chinle Valley, the Tusayan Washes, as well as over the western 
portion of the reservation, have completely masked the normal drain- 
age and in many places hold short-lived pools of water in the hollows 
between the wind-formed mounds. In the southwestward-trending 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 380 PLATE XXIll 




A. ROCK COVERED BY THIN SOIL IN FOREST OF DEFIANCE PLATEAU. 
Showing absence of forest litter and hunnus. 




B. NAVAJO CORNFIELD. 
Photograph by A. C. Vroman, 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 380 PLATE XXIV 




A. LAGUNA CANYON, SHOWING RECENT TRENCHING. 



u ■^" • . ' K 




li, «Si^,\ :r./^w ^'x_?'> "i " •' .^''^%r'~' 




B. RESERVOIR CANYON, TUBA, ARIZ, IN PROCESS OF FILLING BY WIND-BLOWN SAND. 



FLUCTUATION IX STEEAM VOLUME. 101 

valleys of the Shato Plateau and in the Klethla and Red Lake val- 
leys the streams are broken into a series of pools and swamps sepa- 
rated by mounds of shifting sands. Parts of valleys leading south 
to the Moenkopi are completely effaced by sands vhich have filled 
the trough to the level of the surrounding country. The process 
whereby this change is effected may be observed at Reservoir Can- 
yon, near Tuba, which is losing its identity year by year (PL 
XXiy, B), The net result of wind erosion and deposition appears 
to be an increase in quantity of ground water at the expense of sur- 
face supplies. 

FliUCTUATION IN STREAM VOLUME. 

The amount and quality of rainfall and evaporation, the nature 
of the soil and of vegetation, the effect of recent erosion, and the 
work of the wind combine to produce great and sudden fluctuation in 
volume of water carried by the streams of the Navajo country. In 
general the canyons and washes are alternately flooded and nearly 
dry during the rainy season and are without water during the spring 
and fall. On July IT, 1909, the San Juan w^as 3 inches deep at Four 
Corners, and July 23 the water at Mexican Hat was 3 feet deep. 
Following rains of the night of July 24 the river rose 8 feet. During 
the flood of 1911 the water at Shiprock stood 18 to 20 feet above 
low- water mark, and in the lower San Juan attained a height of 30 
feet above low water. During this year the agency grounds at Ship- 
rock were flooded, and the bridge at that place and also the one at 
Goodridge, Utah, were destroyed. 

In narrow, deep canyons the rise of water supplied b}^ some in- 
significant tributary is sufficient to render the can3^on impassable, a 
change which may come without warning and necessitate skillful and 
rapid movements to transfer one's outfit to some shelf of rock beyond 
the reach of the temporary flood. In May, 1909, water to the amount 
of about 300 gallons a minute was flowing over Grand Falls on the 
Little Colorado. In June the stream was dry; by July 20 it had 
risen 6 feet and attained in places the width of one-half mile. Dur- 
ing the course of field work, July 10-21, 1913, no flowing water Avas 
found in the Little Colorado between Sunset Crossing and Black 
Knob. At noon on July 21 the water began to rise and by night had 
reached a stage where crossing was dangerous. The appearance of 
this stream at high water is seen in Plate XXY, A (p. 110) . 

During August, 1911, the Pueblo Colorado was observed to rise 13 
feet in 4 hours, and in August, 1909, the lower Oraibi Wash, which 
had been dr}^ for six months, rose during one night to a height which 
necessitated swimming with the horses. After rains, the Tusayan, 
Pueblo Colorado, Wide Ruin and Chinle washes, and the streams in 
Black Creek and Chuska valleys expand in places to form sheets of 
water ranging in extent from 100 to more than 1,000 acres. Frequently 



102 THE l^AVAJO COUNTEY. 

the rise of water is unconnected with rainfall in the vicinity. The 
fluctuations in volume of stream are greatest and most sudden in the 
smaller channels ; that the larger streams possess the same character 
is shown by quantitative measures on the through-flowing streams 
bordering the reservation. The San Juan in January, 1905, dis- 
charged a minimum of 40 second-feet; in June of the same year a 
maximum flow of 24,800 second-feet was recorded. In July, 1904, 
this stream reached a minimum discharge of 20 second-feet, as con- 
trasted with 20,000 second- feet in October. The Little Colorado at 
Holbrook, where this stream is perennial, had a mean discharge of 
4.1 second-feet in June, 1906, preceded by 621 second-feet in March. 
During this year the maximum discharge was 3,540 second-feet, and 
the minimum 3 second-feet. For November, 1905, the difference be- 
tween maximum and minimum flow was 20,150 second- feet. Not 
only is there a great difference between maximum and minimum dis- 
charge for each month, but the flow during corresponding months of 
different years varies from 500 to 1,500 per cent for the San Juan. 
For the Little Colorado the maxima for November, 1905, and Novem- 
ber, 1906, were, respectively, 20,180 and 63 second-feet, a difference 
of nearly 2,000 per cent. 

Engineers of the Indian Office and Eeclamation Service need no 
description of the behavior of fluctuating streams in this region. 
Gages have been repeatedly washed out or rendered useless by shift- 
ing channels. "A gaging station was established on the Pueblo 
Colorado in November, 1910, but the sandy nature of the river caused 
a complete change in the channel after every high-water period. 
Since then the gage has been replaced three times, but the records 
are incomplete, for the reason that after every change either the gage 
was washed out or the channel changed so materially that the read- 
ings are valueless as to exact quantity." ^ Those who are acquainted 
with this region retain vivid impressions of the rapid and unjDredict- 
able fluctuations of stream volume — impressions based on experiences 
which involve both hardships and danger. One soon learns to re- 
spect the most innocent-looking dry channel and faithfully to fol- 
low the rule "Always camp on the other side of a wash" whenever 
crossing is possible. 

UTILIZATION OF STREAMS. 

NATURE OF THE PROBLEMS TO BE STUDIED. 

The scanty rainfall (see pp. 63-59) considered in connection with 
its uneven distribution and with the high evaporation and soil ab- 
sorption indicate the limits within which studies relating to the 
utilization of streams are to be confined. 

1 Robinson, IT. F., superintendent of irrigation, letter to tlie Commissioner of Indian 
Affairs, Jan. 29, 1912. 



UTILIZATION OF STEEAMS. 103 

A second consideration is the purpose for which surface water is 
to be used. If the region is designed for stock raising on open ranges 
there is little to be gained by increasing the supply of water in the 
present living streams. For this purpose many small supplies dis- 
tributed in such manner as to utilize the natural forage is the essen- 
tial requirement. If the region is to be reclaimed for agriculture, 
water from streams should be impounded for distribution during the 
spring and early summer — the growing season — in months which 
are practically rainless. Because of its elevation (about 43 per 
cent of the reservation is above 6,000 feet), the alkaline character 
of the soil over considerable areas, and the lack of plant food in 
other large tracts probably 60 to 70 per cent of the reservation is 
at present unsuited to agriculture, and if varied agriculture by irri- 
gation is to be undertaken on a large scale much study needs to be 
given to the treatment of soil as well as to the utilization of water. 
Attention must also be directed to the selection of plants adjusted to 
extremes of temperature, for within the valleys of the most vigorous 
perennial streams, particularly those of the Defiance Plateau, 
Chuska Mountains, and Carrizo and Navajo mountains, frost is 
liable to occur any month in the year. Even if agriculture is to be 
confined to the cultivation of forage plants similar problems are to 
be solved. 

Again, the future of the district as regards character of the popu- 
lation is an item which must be taken into account. According to 
the census of 1912 the Navajo and Hopi reservations are occupied 
by 2,272 Hopis, who are primarily agriculturists but who also prac- 
tice sheep husbandry; by 30,016 Navajos, who are unusually skillful 
stockmen ; by 200 Piutes, who raise sheep and cultivate small patches 
of corn ; by a few white cattlemen, who use the range outside the reser- 
vation lines ; and by about 500 officials, missionaries, and traders, pres- 
ent because of the Indians. If the region is to remain as Indian land, 
the problem is to procure water for stock and, in a minor degree only, 
for agriculture. The Navajo needs irrigated land in places where he 
may live the year round, not in mountain districts where corn will 
not mature and where sheep are driven only when forage is scarce in 
the lowlands. 

FLOOD mmGATION. 

The streams of all classes are at present partly utilized both for 
flood irrigation and for irrigation by storage, and improvement 
and extension of both these methods of increasing the available sup- 
ply of surface water may be accomplished without prohibitive ex- 
pense. 

The use of flood waters for irrigation has been a feature of agri- 
cultural practice in this section of the Plateau .province for perhaps a 



104 THE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 

thousand years. Fragments of check dams of loosely piled stone ar- 
ranged on sloping rock benches and on the terraced floor of washes 
may be seen near many of the ruins of the ancient cliif and plateau 
dwellers. It is probable also that temporary earth dams were con- 
structed by these farmers of early days. The Hopis, the remnants 
of this nearly extinct race, follow the methods of their ancestors 
with slavish regard for tradition. The Navajos in turn use the ac- 
cumulated experience of cliff dweller and Hopi, following irrigation 
methods centuries old. From experience and tradition the Indians 
have learned to know the areas liable to be flooded during occasional 
showers as well as those annually inundated by the successive 'rains 
of July and August. Along the flood plains of the larger washes 
the practice is to plant corn at intermediate levels in widely spaced 
holes 12 to 16 inches deep. The grain germinates in the sand and 
rises a foot or more above the surface before the July rains begin. 
With the coming of the flood the field is wholly or partially sub- 
merged. After the water has receded parts of the field are found 
to have been stripped bare of vegetation and other parts to have 
been deeply buried by silt; the portion of seeded ground remaining 
constitutes the irrigated field from which a crop is harvested. (See 
PL XXIII, ^, p. 100.) 

The Hopis, and to a less extent the Xavajos, sometimes endeavor 
to direct the floods and to prevent excessive erosion within the fields 
by constructing earthen diversion dams a few inches to a foot or 
more in height — dams which require renewal each season. Along 
the smaller washes and in places where the slope of the ground is 
moderate the common practice of the Xavajo is to build a series of 
check dams 50 to 200 feet apart and 2 to 5 feet high, which not only 
retard the run-off but also serve to form temporary ponds for stock 
watering. Earely the valley sides are terraced so that flood waters 
pass from field to field without developing arroyos. Much work is 
done by the Indians while the flood is in progress, and an everyday 
sight during showers is the irrigator at work with hoe or stick, or 
even with his hands, constructing ridges of earth or laying down 
sagebrush in such a manner as to insure a thorough soaking of his 
planted field. By these methods of flood irrigation the Navajo and 
Hopi together cultivate about 20,000 acres of land widely distrib- 
uted over the reservation in fields about 3 acres in average size, rarely 
exceeding 200 acres. Considering the size of fields, the nature of the 
soil, the fluctuating flow of streams, and the large amount of debris 
carried in the flooded channels, this method of control by inexpensive 
dams, rebuilt each season, is satisfactory, but the amount of water lost 
is enormous. It is estimated that the unutilized flood waters in the 
Tusayan Washes is 99.5 per cent, a figure which probably also rep- 
resents the conditions in Wide Ruin, Pueblo Colorado, and Chinle 



UTILIZATION- OF STREAMS. 105 

washes. For the Chuska Yalley the estimate is 92 per cent. A part 
of this water now running to waste could be rechiimed by systematic 
construction of checks over larger areas and by completely sur- 
rounding fields with low earth Avails which are designed to retain 
surplus water for a few days. The use of a road grader would 
greatly reduce the large amount of manual labor at present expended 
by the Indians. 

IRRIGATION BY DIVERSION. 
AREA IRRIGATED. 

Along some of the perennial streams of the Navajo country lie 
alluvial deposits formed of soil suitable for agriculture. In several 
such places the waters have been diverted by dams and led out onto 
the adjoining flats. In Piute Canyon, at the Lower Crossing, the 
waters of a spring-fed tributary are led through a ditch one-half 
mile long to irrigate 2 acres of garden and orchard owned by a 
Piute stockman. Standing Bedrock Creek, in Eedrock Valley, is 
diverted to water more than 100 acres of cornfield. Lukachukai 
Creek supplies, through a series of short ditches, water to cover 300 
to 400 acres and makes this place one of the most prosperous Navajo 
settlements in Arizona. Ditches were also noted along the Tisnasbas, 
Nazlini, and Wide Ruin washes, and at several other localities on the 
reservation. The Indian dams are all temporary affairs, constructed 
of earth or of earth, rock, and brush, and rebuilt many times each 
year. The ditches, too, usually require cleaning after heavy showers. 
The problem confronting the Indian in reclaiming land by diver- 
sion of streams is twofold: The difficulty of securing a permanent 
intake and the necessity of building sluiceways across innumerable 
arroyos. This latter difficulty has so far proved insurmountable; 
inany fields have been abandoned as the cutting of gulches has ad- 
vanced, and it is probable that the mileage of Indian-owned ditch 
is less at the present time than it was 20 years ago. 

PROJECTS DEVELOPED BY WHITE MEN. 

Where the Indian has failed the white man has been able to suc- 
ceed in maintaining irrigation works based on stream diversion. By 
the use of grading machinery, blasting powder, masonry, wooden and 
metal flumes, properly constructed head gates, and by systematic 
attention to repairs, irrigation farming has reached a high stage of 
development at Shiprock, Fruitland, and Bluff, along the north bank 
of the San Juan, and at St. Joseph on the Little Colorado. On 
Wheatfields Creek works designed to supply water for about TOO 
acres were constructed and later allowed to become useless for lack 



106 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 



of repair. Many failures are, however, to be recorded. Money ex- 
pended on the Little Colorado below Winslow has been wasted, and 
attempts to divert the lower Chinle have so far resulted disastrously. 
Even on the Moenkopi, where rock floor may be obtained for the base 
of the dam and where satisfactory sites for ditch headings may be 
obtained, ten or twelve trials have not produced a satisfactory 
scheme. The most successful irrigation project on the reservation, 
based on direct utilization of stream flow, is at Fort Defiance, where 

practically the entire low- 
water discharge of Bonito 
Creek is made available. 
It is significant that at this 
point the diversion dam is 
of the simplest type — a low 
ridge of earth capped by 
bags of sand — a structure 
destroyed at each stage of 
high water, but capable of 
renewal in a few hours. It 
appears to me probable 
that dams of this type, ac- 
companied by headings in 
rock or masonry and per- 
manent ditches, will be 
found most suitable for ir- 
rigation projects not in- 
volving storage. 



PROJECTS AWAITING DEVEL- 
OPMENT. 

In the course of my 
travels through the reser- 
vation I noted a number of 
places where topography, 
soil, climate, amount of 




4,oooTeet 



Figure 4.- 



-Map and section illustrating features 
of the Black Falls project. 



water, and conditions controlling dam and ditch construction were 
such as to repay further study with a view to irrigation. In the 
Tyende Valley below Marsh Pass opportunities for the diversion of 
the stream are afforded at j)oints where bedrock floors the channel 
and where, by deep ditches, water could be led to lands favorably sit- 
uated for irrigation. At Sehili, where some work has already been 
done, a ditch heading in the mouth of Spruce Brook should reclaim 
400 to 450 acres. At Tseanazti, on a stream of the same name flow- 
ing eastward from Tunitcha Mountain, there are ancient ditches 
abandoned because of the headAvard recession of several arroyos. 



UTILIZATION OF STEEAMS. 107 

Lieut. W. C. Brown, who has investigated the possibilities of irri- 
gation at this point, shows that a ditch 4 miles long would serve to 
reclaim 1,000 acres of fertile lands.^ Lieut. Brown has also drawn 
plans for an irrigation project on Standing Redrock Creek in Eed- 
rock Yalley at a point where a 20-foot waterfall furnishes a favor- 
able site for an intake. The plans include the construction of a 
cement dam 2 feet high and 25 feet long and the improvement of 
the present Indian ditch to cover 2,500 acres of corn land. It is the 
belief of Lieut. Odon Gurovits that 260 acres could be reclaimed at 
Tohonadla by the construction of 3 miles of inexpensive ditch. 
Upper Black Creek in Todilto Park, Nazlini Creek, Tahchito Creek, 
Shato Canyon, and Figueredo Creek are worthy of further study. 

Black Falls, on the Little Colorado, is the center of a wide expanse 
of desert in which the rainfall probably does not exceed 3 inches a 
year. The climate and soil, however, favor the practice of agricul- 
ture, and at the request of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs an 
examination was made of this locality.^ The plan proposed is to 
divert a part of the flow of the Little Colorado during the months 
when water is sufficient to form a stream, and to supplement the 
supply by pumping during May and June. The place selected for 
ditch head is 2^ miles above the falls at a point where lava forms 
the immediate bank. Ko dam is required, and at low-water stages 
the stream is relatively free from silt. The plan recommended 
involves the construction of 11 miles of ditch and of an infiltration 
gallery to recover the underflow of the valley. The water to be 
recovered will be capable of irrigating 1,200 acres of a 2,000-acre 
tract which lies east and north of Black Falls at an estimated cost 
of $25 an acre. (See map, fig. 4.) 

IRRIGATION BY STORAGE. 

GENERAL CONDITIONS. 

At first sight it appears that the Navajo country, with its innu- 
mperable narrow rock canyons, its score or more of short perennial 
streams at high altitudes, and its rapid run- off, offers opportunity 
for the construction of many storage reservoirs, by means of which 
the widely extended alluvial plains may be intensively cultivated. 
When, however, the region is examined the following general con- 
ditions are found to prevail : 

1. The storage grounds along the perennial streams of the Chuska 
Mountains and of the Carrizo and Navajo mountains are at altitudes 
which prohibit the cultivation of crops other than those which sur- 
vive large ranges in daily temperature and can endure frost at any 

1 52d Cong., 2d sess., Senate Ex. Doc. 68, 1893. 

2 The reports on the engineering problems of the Black Ealls project by H. F. Robinson 
and a report on the geologic features are on file in the Office of Indian Affairs. 



108 THE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 

month in the year. Water from reservoirs thus located must be 
carried 10 to 30 miles before it can reach large tracts suitable for 
general agriculture. In general the largest tracts of irrigable land 
are farthest from permanent streams. 

2. The deeper canyons — Navajo, Piute, Laguna, upper Moenkopi, 
Del Muerto, and others now occupied by streams — contain little 
arable land. 

3. The construction of dams for storage of flood water in the wide 
alluvium-filled washes presents engineering difficulties surmountable 
onl}^ at prohibitive cost — a statement amply supported by a formid- 
able catalogue of failures. 

4. The amount of silt carried along the large valleys is sufficient 
to cause embarrassment, since no satisfactory method has yet been 
devised for clearing silt-laden streams. Studies of silt at the Zuni 
Reservoir, 30 miles south of Gallup, N. Mex., where conditions are 
similar to those in the Navajo country, have been made by Rollin 
Eitter.^ At this point, during the years 1912 and 1913, a run-off 
of 14,450 acre-feet gave a silt deposit of 1,070 acre-feet, having a 
solid content of 7.4 per cent. During the eight years since the chan- 
nel was closed the reservoir capacity has been diminished 4,249 acre- 
feet, an average of 531 acre-feet per year. At this rate the life of 
this expensive reservoir is 12 years. The proportion of silt, by 
volume, found in water at the spillway outlet was 16 per cent after 
the muddy water had been allowed to settle for four months. When 
first collected a bottle test showed 55 per cent of silt. Because of 
the nature of the rainfall the water impounded at Zuni and at other 
localities in northwestern New Mexico and northern Arizona is 
necessarily that from sudden, violent floods, which carry the maxi- 
mum amounts of silt. Mr. Robinson found that water collected from 
the Pueblo Colorado at Ganado and allowed to stand for 30 days 
carried 2.5 per cent of silt by volume when the stream delivered 15 
second-feet of water, and 6.5 per cent when the run-off had in- 
creased to 1,940 second-feet. Samples collected by Mr. Robinson in 
August, 1904, from flood waters of Bonito Creek at Fort Defiance 
contained 13.5 per cent of mud by volume after a lapse of one month. 

At various times during the course of our work tests were made 
of flood water taken from the larger washes and allowed to settle 
from 12 to 36 hours. Eight such tests gave an apparent percentage 
of sediment ranging from 6 to 25. One record of 34 per cent was 
obtained, and a sample taken from a tributary of the Little Colorado 
was found after 16 hours to have deposited nearly half its bulk. 

5. The alluvial filling of washes and canyons is, in general, fine and 
coarse sand, rather than silt and clay ; the soil absorption and under- 

1 A copy of the report of Mr. Ritter lias been kindly furnished me by Mr. H. F. Kobia- 
son, superintendent of irrigation. 



UTILIZATION OF STREAMS. 109 

ground flow is correspondingly large. As stated by Lieut. Baker 
in a report to the Secretary of War : ^ " Officers should be cautioned 
in reporting upon the feasibility of any site for a dam, reservoir, or 
irrigation system that the sandy and porous nature of the soil should 
be taken into consideration, as well as the limited amount of rainfall 
and high evaporation, and consequently the difficulty not only of 
filling a reservoir but also of preserving the water until the irrigation 
season begins." 

A preliminary study of the reservation, supplemented by the ex- 
perience of settlers in the arid Southwest, indicates that wisely 
located irrigation works costing between, $10,000 and $40,000 may 
justify their construction, provided the problems which they present 
have been carefully studied. More expensive projects are of doubtful 
expediency. 

GOVERNMENT PROJECTS. 

Red Lake.— The storage reservoir of Red Lake (PI. XXV, ^), 12 
miles north of Fort Defiance, was designed to irrigate several hun- 
dred acres of land in the middle of Black Creek Valley. The " lake," 
59.82 acres in extent, receives short, ephemeral tributary streams 
but is mainly supplied by upper Black Creek, whose waters are di- 
verted by a fiume and dam. The drainage area, calculated by H. F. 
Robinson, is 230 square miles, and the run-off is 2.5 inches, or 33,325 
acre-feet per year. The reservoir is well placed and well designed, 
but the ditches have been neglected until they are washed out or filled 
with sand. The only use to which this body of stored water has been 
put in recent years is for flood irrigation along Black Creek Valley, 
and at critical times to supply Indian farms located at Houck, 48 
miles below the reservoir. 

Reservoir Canyon. — Two miles east of Tuba is a spring-fed can- 
yon containing three lakes. The upper and middle lakes (respec- 
tively 10 and 6 acres in area) are caused largely by wind-blown 
sand, which is gradually filling the canyon. The waters of the lower 
" lake " or reservoir, with an area of about 15 acres, are retained by 
a dam 350 feet long and 5 feet high. About 75 acre-feet is drawn 
off during the growing season. Plans formulated by the irrigation 
engineers of the Indian Office involve iinpounding about 150 acre- 
feet, and the construction of ditches to irrigate lands in Moenkopi 
Wash, as well as within the canyon itself. (See map, PI. XXVII.) 

Wheat-fields reservoir. — A ditch leading water from Wheatfields 
Creek was constructed by the Indian Office in 1885-86 and utilized 
to irrigate a few acres of land. Later it was decided to construct 
a diversion dam, reservoir, and the necessary ditches to irrigate 700 
acres on the south side of the creek. The reservoir, completed in 

1 53d Cong., 2d sess., S. Ex. Doc. 68, 1893. 



110 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 




1909, has a capacity of 
1,300 acre-feet. At the 
time of my visits, in 1909 
and 1911, the works were 
out of repair and had 
apparently been aban- 
doned. In a report to 
the War Department in 
1893 Lieut. W. C. Brown 
called attention to the 
fact that 10,000,000 gal- 
lons of water could be 
impounded on upper 
Wheatfields Creek by an 
earth dam 300 feet long 
and 20 feet high. 

G an ado reservoir. — 
Ganado is a short dis- 
tance below the mouth of 
the canyon portion of 
Pueblo Colorado Wash. 
The stream at this point 
is perennial, and exten- 
sive flats below consist 
of fertile soil well situ- 
ated for irrigation. 
Three miles above Ga- 
nado is a natural lake 
which rarely becomes en- 
tirely dry. From time 
to time the waters of this 
lake, supplemented by 
flow from the Pueblo 
Colorado, have been uti- 
lized by means of low 
earth dams and distrib- 
uting ditches constructed 
by the local trader, Mr. 
J. L. Hubbell. Since the 
water to be stored at this 
place is for the benefit of 
the Navajos my recom- 
mendation (report for 
1909) was added to that 
of other Government offi- 
cers that a suitable dam, 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 




A. LITTLE COLORADO RIVER AT TANNER CROSSING AFTER HEAVY SHOWERS. 
Photograph by Stephen Janus. 




B. RED LAKE RESERVOIR, LOOKING SOUTH TOWARD OUTLET. 



UTILIZATION OF STREAMS. 



Ill 



headgate, and ditches be 
constructed according* to 
plans outlined by Mr. H. F. 
Robinson, irrigation engi- 
neer, and it was gratifying 
to see this work near com- 
pletion at my visit in 1913. 
(See fig. 5.) 

The drainage area above 
the reservoir, comprising 
about 205 square miles, is in 
large part forested and 
grass covered. The storage 
basin is designed to hold 
4,438 acre-feet of water, 
which, on the assumption of 
a duty of water of 2.5 feet, 
is sufficient to irrigate 1,775 
acres of tilled land with each 
filling of the reservoir. By 
storing the water at low 
stages of the creek the diffi- 
culties arising from deposits 
of silt are largely elimi- 
nated. The system is capa- 
ble of expansion, and Mr. 
Robinson has devised plans 
for disposing of a large part 
of the silt if it should be 
found desirable to utilize 
flood waters. The estimated 
cost of the Ganado project 
is $35 an acre. 

PROJECT AWAITING DEVELOP- 
MENT. 

Leupp reservoir. — The im- 
practicability of utilizing 
the flood waters of the Lit- 
tle Colorado for irrigation 
at Leupp has led to a study 
of a scheme whereby the 
flood water of Canyon Di- 
ablo and tributary streams, 
draining an area of about 




'Ike No. 4 



112 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

1,220 square miles, may be impounded. Completed plans for this 
project have been submitted to the Indian Bureau by the district 
supperintendent of irrigation, Mr. H. F. Eobinson. The reservoir as 
designed covers 980 acres, has a capacity of 11,617 acre-feet, and the 
run-off is estimated as sufficient to fill it 14 to 19 times per year. The 
area for which irrigation is desired is 8,000 acres, requiring 28,000 
acre-feet of water, or 2.4 times the capacity of the proposed reservoir. 
Fourteen miles of ditch on the north side of the Little Colorado and 
10 miles on the south side, including a siphon under the river bed, are 
a part of the plan. Preliminary estimates place the cost of the 
Leupp project at $282,786, or $35.35 per acre. (See fig. 6.) 

ADDITIONAL PKOJECTS. 

The following localities, briefly examined by me, are suggested as 
worthy of detailed study: 

Quartzite Canyon. — A perennial stream, flowing about 0.15 sec- 
ond-foot during dry seasons, emerges abruptly from high walls of 
quartzite and enters an alluvial flat. Back of the canyon gates the 
valley widens. A dam 30 to 60 feet long-and 10 to 20 feet high, at 
one of several sites, would serve to increase largely the acreage now 
cultivated at Fort Defiance. 

Buell Park. — Buell Park is a rock-walled depression, 10 square 
miles in area, which receives the waters from 40 square miles of 
surrounding country. The park has but one outlet, a canyon about 
70 feet wide at the base, cut in solid rock with flaring walls 200 feet 
high. A permanent stream discharging 0.05 a second-foot at low 
water occupies the canyon floor. Land suitable for irrigation 
borders the valley below. (See PL XXVI, A.) 

Lokasakad. — A group of springs issuing from the lava 5 miles 
west of Indian Wells feeds a perennial stream which enters a wide, 
flat-floored, rock-walled valley, from which it emerges through a 
cleft 300 feet wide. The spring flows at the rate of 10 to 15 gallons 
a minute. Other small springs discharge into the valley, which 
during rains is filled to overflowing. The valley floor is relatively 
free from silt. More irrigable land than can be supplied with 
water is conveniently situated. 

Marsh Pass region. — The mouth of Laguna Canyon, as well as 
points lower down on Tyende Creek, where this stream passes from 
rock canyon to open flat in its sinuous course through Comb Kidge, 
is worthy of examination with a view to the construction of storage 
reservoirs. 

Segihatsosi.- — A running stream, discharging about 0.20 second- 
foot during dry seasons, occupies Segihatsosi Canyon, and numer- 
ous springs are found along its course. At its head is a rock- walled 



STORAGE OF SURFACE WATER FOR STOCK. 113 

amphitheater entered by a canj^on 200 to 300 feet wide, below which 
the tiny stream is bordered by alluvial terraces, which increase in 
area downstream. Irrigation is practiced here on a small scale by 
a group of industrious Navajos. 

Miscellaneous. — The drainage areas of several ephemeral and in- 
termittent streams which flow westward from Defiance Plateau into 
Wide Euin Wash and into Nazlini Valley are forested and furnish 
only a moderate supply of silt. Narrow canyon mouths are abruptly 
followed by irrigable flats. Along both the north and south edges 
of Button Plateau and on Shato Plateau similar conditions prevail. 
Flood waters from canyon heads on Carrizo and Navajo mountains 
may be stored for distribution to lands 2,000 feet below. The eastern 
half of Monument Valley contains a number of satisfactory sites 
for reservoirs, but the alkaline content of the soil in this area may 
render agriculture unprofitable. Two small reservoirs at Toadlena 
admit of further improvement. 

STORAOE OF SURFACE WATER FOR STOCK. 

ESSENTIAL CONDITIONS. 

The Navajo is a herdsman; the Navajo country is primarily a 
sheep range; and for the present generation — probably for many 
generations to come — agriculture will play a decidedly subordinate 
part in the life of the natives. The problems to be solved, therefore, 
relate to forage and animals on unpeopled stretches rather than to 
agriculture and markets and cities. Water for stock rather than 
water for crops is demanded by the Indian ; not a few large supplies, 
but many small ones ; not an increased amount of water where water 
is, but an increase in the number of places where water may be 
found. Sheep do not travel far to water, and the Navajo and Hopi 
practice of returning their flocks tO' their fold each night requires 
water so located as to take advantage of the natural feed on the 
reservation. Under the present conditions the Navajo saying is 
appropriate : ^' Where feed is there is no water ; where water is there 
is no feed." Moreover, especially on the lowlands, forage is scant, 
even as measured by semiarid standards. For horses, and in many 
places for sheep and goats, the search for grazing ground must often 
be satisfied by the discovery of places where animals may keep from 
starving. Water holes should therefore be widely distributed, and 
the ideal method of development is to provide moderate supplies at 
points not to exceed 8 miles apart over the entire reservation, each 
supply sufficient to care for 500 to 1,000 head of sheep. To fulfill 
these conditions the storage of surface waters and the recovery of 
ground water are essential. 
33033°— wsp 380— 16 8 



114 THE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 

SMALL RESERVOIRS OR " TANKS." 

SITES. 

The larger washes, particiihirly those through which great volumes 
of water rush in times of floods and those whose banks consist of 
sand or adobe, are to be avoided in the construction of ponds or 
catches. The great and fluctuating volume of water, the character 
of the stream bed, and the presence of silt, present problems which 
have not yet been satisfactorily solved by hydraulic engineers. In- 
expensi^e storm-water reservoirs may, however, be constructed in 
many places by pajdng careful attention to the selection of sites, the 
construction of the dam, and the position of the wasteways. 

Sites for a small reservoir should be selected near the heads of 
washes or on tributaries, especially those which do not have steep 
gradients. In fact, the flatter the valley the better. A valley 
covered with grass, sunflowers, sagebrush, or greasewood, backed by 
slopes forested with piiion and juniper, should be selected if possible. 
The reservoir should be so located that the prevailing southwest 
winds will not have an opportunity to drive waves against the 
embankment, a matter which is often overlooked, but is of consider- 
able importance, even in a small reservoir where the dam is con- 
structed of earth. Care should be taken also not to place the reser- 
voir directly across the valley axis, but slightly to one side so that 
the rush of storm water does not spend its full force against the 
embankment. By keeping this fact in mind, it is possible to place 
reservoirs along the sides of the larger washes where they may be 
filled b}^ a part of the storm water without danger of destruction. 
In some places, also, a ditch may be dug to conduct the water from 
the main wash to the reservoir and the temporary head gates may 
be renewed after each storm. 

A number of places were noted where natural depressions in bare 
rock could be utilized by constructing small dams across poorly 
defined outlets. 

DAMS. 

Suitable material for earth dams is not abundant in this region, 
and more than ordinary care should therefore be exercised in their 
construction. After the site has been chosen ground should be 
cleared by removdng the porous top soil, together with weeds, plant 
roots, etc., and the material thus removed should be taken outside 
the reservoir basin. A trench or series of trenches 4 to 10 feet wide 
and about 2 feet deep may then be dug along the axis of the pro- 
posed dam and the entire surface over which the dam is to be built 
roughened. Such procedure improves the chance of securing a tight 
bond between the earth and the dam, thus decreasing the seepage 
along the natural water channel. 



STORAGE OF SUEFACE WATER FOR STOCK. 115 

The dirt from the dam should be put on carefully and spread 
evenly in layers 12 to 18 inches in thickness, and each layer should 
be tamped by hand or by driving horses back and forth over it. 
This method of treatment tends to prevent the formation of horizon- 
tal and vertical seams. No dirt for the embankment should be taken 
below the dam, for the holes thus made may fill with water, which 
by percolation may weaken the foundation of the dam. Where bor- 
row pits are made inside the reservoir, care should be taken to leave 
a berm at least 8 feet from the foot of the slope in order to prevent 
sliding. If built of loose earth the dam should be at least 10 feet 
wdde at the top and the slopes should be less than those of ordinary 
dirt banks. Hydraulic engineers have found that a slope of 3 to 1 
on the side next the reservoir and of 2 to 1 on the outside will give 
satisfactory results. Personal experience in j^lanning reservoirs for 
stock on the Great Plains suggests that an earth dam in an exposed sit- 
uation should be as wide and as flat as the local conditions will allow. 

The material used in the construction of the embankment must 
necessarily be that which can be obtained near at hand. Many 
places on the Navajo and Hopi reservations, as in the Chinle, Black 
Creek, and Little Colorado valleys, furnish clay from decomposed 
shale. In other places nothing but sand is at hand. Where material 
may be selected it is of course more important to place the imper- 
vious material on the inside of the dam. Care should be taken to 
avoid soils which contain alkali, salts, or other materials which may 
be readily dissolved by the water. Where the material is not satis- 
factory it can be much improved by puddling. Horses or cattle or 
sheep driven through the reservoir and over the dam when in process 
of construction help much in producing water-tight material. A 
dam may be further strengthened by facing with rock and in a 
number of localities abundant thin slabs of sandstone and shale are 
at hand for this purpose. 

The most satisfactory small dam seen on the reservation is on the 
trail between Ganado and Keams Canyon and w^as constructed by 
an Indian, as follows: Two rows of posts 10 feet apart were made 
into fences by weaving brush from post to post. The space between 
the fences was filled with sand and clay collected from neighboring 
slopes and puddled by driving sheep back and forth between the 
fences. A spillway leading across bare rock into an adjoining gulch 
accommodates the surplus water. Many such dams built with the 
aid of wheelbarrows or scrapers are in use by stockmen on the 
Coconino Plateau and generally throughout the semiarid portions 
of the United States. 

Immediately below the dam constructed to hold the surface water 
will usually be found a favorable site for a shallow well suitable for 
domestic supplies. 



116 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

WASTEWAYS. 

Natural wasteways should be selected where possible and care 
taken not to allow too much fall between the point where the water 
leaves the reservoir and where it reenters its old channel. This fact 
should also be kept in mind when an artificial wasteway is to be 
constructed, for the fall which forms at the lower end of the waste 
channed may eat backward with great rapidity. Where feasible 
wasteways may be provided in the direct line of the natural stream 
flow, though they should be placed not on or near the earth dam but 
rather as far away as the topography will permit and at least 5 feet 
below the top of the dam. Brush checks made of mattresses of 
greasewood, sagebrush, piiion, and cedar fastened by wire may be 
constructed along the spillway, and in favorable localities drifting 
sand may be directed to build dunes which may accomplish the same 
result. 

The following publications will be found helpful to those charged 
with the responsibility of assisting the Indian in developing water 
for stock: 

Herman, T. C, Small reservoirs in Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakotia: 
U. S. Dept. Agr. Office Exper. Sta. Bull. 179, 1907. 

Fortier, Samuel, and Bixby, F. L., Earth-fill dams and hydraulic-fill dams: 
U. S. Dept. Agr. Office Exper. Sta. Bull. 249, pt. 1, 1912. 

WATER POWER. 

A small mill for grinding grain, driven by water power, may be 
constructed along any one of the several perennial streams descend- 
ing from the mountains. I am informed by Mr. Randall that such 
a mill was formerly in operation at Tuba. 

In the canyon of the San Juan, beginning 3J miles below Good- 
ridge, is a series of closely set meanders intrenched over 1,000 feet 
below the surface. The necks between the several meanders vary 
from 5Q0 to 1,000 feet, and the gradient of the stream is such that 
at one point the opposite ends of a tunnel 840 feet loBg would rest, 
respectively, 10 and 85 feet above low-water level. An engineer's 
report on a project at " Gooseneck" indicated that a' tunnel 600 feet 
long would serve to develop 710 horsepower at low-water stage.^ 

LAKES. 

LAKES OF THE CHUSKA MOUNTAIN'S. 

Basins occupied by permanent or by short-lived Avater bodies are 
found on the Chuska Mountains and also on the floors of a few of 
the larger washes. The basins on the Chuska Mountains are more 
than 100 in number and vary in size from shallow depressions 10 to 



1 Data supplied by Mr. A. L. Raplee, of Bluff, Utah. 



LAKES. 117 

20 feet in diameter to bodies of water covering 1 to 3 acres. Many 
of the lakes rest in rock-rimmed hollows in sandstone or lava ; others 
are bordered by meadows; and a few are set in the midst of groves 
of oak and pine and willow, constituting attractive camp sites. In 
none of the lakes examined did the water exceed 10 feet in depth, and 
in many of them the water forms merely a sheet 1 to 2 feet deep, 
covering a flat-floored hollow. During the rainy season most of 
the lakes form part of drainage systems whose low gradients are 
determined by the horizontal attitude of the strata along their 
courses; a few lakes retain their individuality throughout the year. 
All the mountain lakes fluctuate in volume, but probably half the 
basins retain water during the dry season. In July, 1909, the lakes 
at Roof Butte were dry; in July, 1911, 14 water bodies were noted 
on the Lukachukai Mountains. Lieut. Gurovits reports that the seven 
lakes seen by him on Tunitcha Mountain in October, 1892, were only 
water holes and that two of them were nearly dry. Judging from 
reports of Navajos and Government officials, about one-third of the 
41 lakes mapped on the Chuska Mountains are liable to disappear 
during the spring and early summer. 

TOLANI LAKES. 

On the route from Leupp to Oraibi there is a group of lakes known 
to the Navajos as Tolani (many water bodies). The group con- 
sists of seven basins in addition to several adobe flats. They are 
set in the midst of a most forbidding expanse of sands deposited by 
flood waters of the Tusayan Washes and redistributed by the winds. 
The lakes occupy a divide at the junction of several washes and are 
separated from the normal drainage by banks of alluvium and wind- 
blown sands. They are fed by flood waters supplemented by under- 
ground seepage, and downward percolation is prevented by a floor 
of shale and of adobe. Four of the lakes, so the Navajos state, each 
6 to 15 acres in extent, are never dry, in spite of excessive evapora- 
tion, and three others are filled by early rains. During the rainy 
season the low-water depth of 3 to 8 feet is more than doubled and 
the lakes expand, submerge the adobe flats, and reach the outer 
strand 300 to 1,000 feet back from the line marking the low- water 
stage. The lakes form the home of a group of Indians whose flocks 
graze in the neighborhood. 

LAKES FORMED BY DRIFTING SAND. 

On Kaibito and Shato plateaus, and to a less extent elsewhere, 
stream channels have been divided into segments by drifting sands. 
Eed Lake Valley, Klethla Valley, Shato and Begashibito valleys, 
and Reservoir Canyon, are occupied by ephemeral streams which 
find themselves unable to contend successfully with the sediments 



118 THE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 

deposited by the wind. Lakes are accordingly strung along these 
canyons at irregular intervals. These water bodies are narrow, 
attain lengths of 30 to 200 feet and in general are clear, fresh, and 
bordered by zones of reeds and water grass. About one-half of the 
10 or 15 lakes observed are perennial; the others become marshes 
or playas during the dry months. The largest of the group is Red 
Lake, two partly detached bodies of brackish water about one-half 
mile in total length, whose volume and area varies widely wdth the 
seasons. 

EPHEMERAL LAKES. 

Numerous depressions floored by adobe or sand and cut off from 
drainage lines by deposits of sediment from tributary washes or 
by sand dunes are to be found along the borders of the larger valleys. 
These hollows contain shallow water bodies for periods ranging from 
a few days to six or seven mxonths in each year. The water is often 
turbid from stirring of the bottom by waves and in places is brackish 
or alkaline. Several such "dry lakes" are found in the Chinle 
Valley, the largest of which, Bekihatso, has been known to hold 
water throughout the summer months. Beds of ephemeral lakes were 
also noted along the southern edge of Black Mesa, within the Hopi 
Buttes, the Tusayan Washes, and the Chuska Valley provinces ;" and 
the glistening, burning floors of three ephemeral lakes in the Little 
Colorado Valley were crossed during the early summer of 1913. 

OTHER LAKES. 

Three lakes on Button Plateau and nine lakes on the Chaco Pla- 
teau were found to contain water during the driest part of 1911. 
The floors of these lakes are formed by shales of the Cretaceous 
period and their waters are confined by widespread deposits of silt 
and sand in the form of low-grade fans, which change in position 
from year to year. Two small ponds of the same nature were seen 
on Black Mesa and one on the Shato Plateau. 

UTILIZATION OF LAKES. 

As reservoirs for irrigation the lakes of the Navajo country have 
little value. The}'' are too low set for use on lands in the imme- 
diate vicinity, and their volume of water is too small to justify the 
expense of transportation by ditches. Moreover, the lakes on the 
Chuska Mountains are at too great an altitude (9,000 feet) to be 
used for crops requiring a long growing season. They, however, 
furnish sites for the construction of storage reservoirs. The basin 
is ready prepared, and an increase in the amount of water im- 
pounded may be obtained by constructing a suitable dam. Two 



DIRECT UTILIZATION OF RAINFALL. 119 

storage reservoirs constructed by the Government — Red Lake and 
Ganado — make use of natural lakes. Bekihatso Lake and an 
ephemeral lake bed about 6 miles northwest of Sunrise Springs, 
and two of the Seven Lakes group on Chaco Plateau, are worthy of 
study with irrigation in view. At the present time the lakes of all 
types are utilized for stock watering, and from several of them 
greater permanence and increased volume could be obtained by 
means of inexpensive dams — a method employed by cattlemen on 
the lands adjoining the reservation. 

WATER HOLES IN THE WASHES. 

Eock-floored channels are in a number of places marked by pot- 
holes and cavities produced by widening of joints and by solution. 
They are particularly likely to be found immediately above and be- 
low dry waterfalls. In some of these pockets water remains through- 
out the year and constitutes a reliable supply in an otherwise desert 
stretch. Water from such rock holes was used by my party at 
Agathla, at Keams copper mines, at the north base of Dutton Pla- 
teau, on Defiance Plateau, at Grand Falls, and at a few other places. 
After floods in the washes pools of water remain for weeks and some- 
times throughout the year. Such water holes are distributed along 
the dry bed of the Little Colorado, where their preservation is due 
to scour, which forms a depression below the water table. Depres- 
sions floored with a film of silt or adobe, which prevents percolation, 
may likewise hold remnants of a flood for long periods. Abandoned 
high-level meanders in adobe flood plains observed along the Chinle, 
the Dinnebito, and Steamboat washes were found to contain water 
even during the dry season. These supplies are not, however, to 
be relied upon, for their position and permanence may vary widely 
during the season. 

DIRECT UTILIZATION OF RAINFALL. 

GENERAL CONDITIONS. 

In parts of the reservation where surface water and springs are 
absent and where wells are too expensive to justify construction 
supplies for domestic use and for small flocks may be obtained by 
storing rain water. Cisterns for travelers and for teams might be 
constructed on the long roads which must be traversed on entering 
the reservation and in going from place to place across it; and the 
amount of water available at stores, missionary settlements, and 
Government headquarters might be increased by similar means. 

Collected rain is particularly desirable where the present water 
supply, though sufficient in amount and available for stock, is unsuited 



120 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 



for man because of the presence of alkali or salt. For instance, at 
Red Lake, northeast of Tuba, the surface, spring, and well waters 
are unfit for drinking, but an ample supply for household use is 
obtained by impounding the water which falls on half the store roof. 
At this place the water is conducted into a cement-lined cistern 6 
feet in diameter and 11 feet deep. Every building on the reservation 
should be supplied with rain troughs and cisterns, for there are few 
places where rain water is not more desirable for domestic use than 
the supplies now at hand. 

Clean rock surfaces may also be used to collect rain water by 
constructing small cement dams at the foot of slopes; and it is en- 
tirely feasible to clear off hillsides, cover them with cement, and 
make a shallow collecting basin from which water may be directed 
to a suitably constructed cistern or closed basin below. Eain water, 
if kept clean, is palatable and entirely wholesome, and its storage 
offers one of the best opportunities to meet the demand for good 
drinking water in this region. 

WATER CATCHES. 

Water catch is a term in use in Bermuda, India, and other Eng- 
lish colonies for a natural or artificially constructed surface from 




Figure 7. — Diagram of water catch with cistern excavated in rock. 

which rain water is collected. This system of recovery of rainfall 
involves the selection of a suitable site and the selection or con- 
struction of a catchment or collecting area and the building of a 
cistern. On the Navajo Reservation sites for water catches are 
recommended in the following order : 

1. Sites at which the natural dip of the strata is from 10° to 30° 
and erosion has cut the upturned beds into a series of hogbacks. Ex- 
pense is lessened by the selection of places where the inclined rock 
surface is free from vegetation or accumulated debris. Such situa- 
tions are found in the valleys along the western edge of Manuelito 
Plateau, the west base of Chuska Mountain, in Monument Valley, in 



DIRECT UTILIZATION OF EAINFALL. 



121 



middle Chinle Valley, and along the west side of the Little Colorado, 
in all of which places water is difficult to obtain. 

2. Slopes formed of rock thinly covered with soil or with vegeta- 
tion. 

3. The sloping bare rock walls of canyons cut in a single sand- 
stone stratum. Hundreds of such sites may be found on the Moen- 
kopi, Kaibito, and Rainbow plateaus, on Segi Mesas, in Monument 
Valley, and in smaller numbers elsewhere. 

4. Exposed edges of a series of horizontally bedded rock forming 
the sloping flank of mesas and buttes and ridges. In such places the 
edges of strata should be leveled to an even surface — a somewhat ex- 
pensive operation. By this method supplies of pure water could be 
developed in the " badlands " of the Hopi Buttes province, in the 
Painted Desert, and in Gypsum Valley — regions now almost useless 
because of scarcity and unwholesomeness of both surface and under- 
ground waters. 

5. Slopes of material other than rock, involving coating the hill- 
side with a layer of cement. 




Figure 8. — Diagram of water catch witli cistern excavated in alluvium at base of a slope. 

Construction work on the catchment area is of a very simple char- 
acter. Bare rock cleaned or rock coated with cement will receive the 
rain. Smoothing of the rock is desirable but not essential. Bound- 
ing walls a few inches in height to turn off water not falling on the 
cleaned area, and a fence to ward off stock should be provided. The 
cistern may be constructed either below or above ground and either 
within or without the catchment area. Cisterns sunk into rock or 
into alluvium at the base of the inclined collecting area and lined 
with cement are subject to only slight losses from evaporation; those 
built above ground are easier to clean and may be so placed as to be 
drawn off by pipes to troughs located farther down the slope. (See 
figs. 7 and 8.) 

Water catches may be built of any desired size, and in considering 
the requirements for a given place or a particular purpose the fol- 
lowing estimate may be used : One inch of rainfall will yield about 



122 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 



half a gallon of water to the square foot of horizontal catchment 
area. 

On the island of Bermuda, where the entire population is supplied 
by water catches, the hill slopes are cleared of soil and vegetation 
and the bare rock is smoothed and frequently whitewashed or 
cemented. The cisterns are built with thick stone walls, are kept 
dark and tightly closed from wind-blown sand, and some are white- 
washed or painted to retard evaporation. The water is cool and is 
pure so long as the tanks are kept clean. 

If it should be found desirable to store rain water in places where 
long, sloping surfaces are not available, a modification of the design 




Figure 9. — Diagram of water catch constructed in rock on top of a mesa. 

for the tj^pical catch is suggested, as shown in figure 9. The essen- 
tial features of this design are a shaft or well sunk into rock and a* 
gallery or drift leading from it. The gallery may be made as spacious 
as desired, but the shaft should have the smallest cross section con- 
sistent with the demands of construction. The loss from evaporation 
is thus reduced to a minimum. The catch or cistern should be placed 
in a depression surrounded by bare rock, but the catchment area need 
not be large, as the water falling on a cleared space only 100 by 200 
feet in area with a rainfall of 8.29 inches, the annual average for this 
region, would amount to about 83,000 gallons. 



Part III. GROUND WATER. 

SOURCE OF THE GROUND WATER. 

Of the annual precipitation a part finds its way directly into 
stream channels and constitutes the run-off; a second part is lost 
through evaporation; the remainder is absorbed by the ground, in 
which it remains indefinitely as ground water or finds its way to the 
surface through springs, or seeps, or wells. The proportionate 
amount of water which is retained by soil and rock varies widely and 
depends on the relative values of several factors, chief among which 
are the amount of precipitation, the nature of the precipitation, the 
rapidity of run-off, the amount of evaporation from both water and 
ground surface, and the absorbent capacity of soil and rock. 

In the Navajo country the average mean annual precipitation is 
about 8.29 inches. Were other conditions favorable, this amount of 
rainfall would be sufficient to saturate the ground and to maintain 
a water table at moderate depth beneath the surface. The rain, 
however, occurs as sudden showers of short duration, and days or 
weeks or even months may intervene between falls of rain sufficient 
to wet the ground. Moreover, the water w^hich falls as rain is in 
many places hurried away through thousands of ready-prepared 
channels of steep gradient, with the result that the rocks over per- 
haps 50 per cent of the reservation are permitted to imbibe an inap- 
preciable amount of the rainfall. It is for this reason that the snow 
which falls each winter over about half of the reservation has high 
value, since melting of snow is a relatively slow process and the water 
resulting is given an opportunity to find its way downward through 
cracks and pores into the rock. The numerous springs on Chuska 
Mountain and other flat-topped highland areas are in part traceable 
to waters originally accumulated as snow. 

Evaporation is a factor of prime importance when the final dis- 
position of precipitation is considered. The measurements at Hol- 
brook show that 46.4 inches of the upper surface of a standing body 
of water may pass into the air each year, and that the rainfall of a 
day may be dissipated by evaporation within the same length of time. 
Just what proportion of the rainfall on the Navajo Reservation is 
lost through evaporation is unknown, for no formulae have been con- 
structed which make it possible quantitatively to divide precipitation 
into run-off, ground water, and vapor. For this region run-off prob- 

123 



124 



THE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 



ably averages between 14 and 25 per cent of the total rainfall, and 
evaporation disposes of most of the remainder. 

A portion of the water contained in the soil and rock of the Navajo 
country finds a source beyond its borders. An unknown amount is 
fed into the strata buried beneath the northern part of the Gothic 
Mesas, and the Pennsylvanian and Permian ( ? ) rocks dipping north 
Irom the Zuni Mountains doubtless carry water beneath the Button 
Plateau. It is probable also that the sandstones and porous lime- 
stones of Carboniferous age underlying the Little Colorado Valley 
contain water that enters these beds in the well-watered area about 
San Francisco Mountain. With these exceptions the water found in 
bedrock and in unconsolidated material probably has its source in 
the rain and snow falling within the borders of the reservation. 

GROUND-WATER RESERVOIR. 

NATURE OF THE RESERVOIR. 

The surface of the ground is the top of a vast underground storage 
reservoir, or the outer surface of a sponge whose pores are more or 
less completely filled with water. The surface of this gigantic 
sponge or reservoir is by no means level and even, but coincides with 



Perched water table 




Figure 10. — Diagram showing distribution of ground water and tlie position of tlie water 

table. 



the surface of the ground, reaching an elevation of more than 10,000 
feet on Navajo Mountain and sinking to 2,800 feet at the mouth of 
the Little Colorado. Even if the reservoir were filled the surface of 
the water would not attain a uniform level, because free adjustment 
among water particles is prevented by the presence of impervious 
areas and by the fact that much of the water is in control of capil- 
larity rather than of gravity. The bottom of this underground 
reservoir is likewise highly uneven, for the water in the ground can 
extend downward only so far as openings exist and to the point at 
which the strata are water-tight. 

In some parts of the reservation there is a second reservoir, a deep- 
seated sponge separated from the upper ground-water reservoir by 
an impervious bed of shales or other materials, and receiving its 
water supply from some distant source. (See fig. 10.) 



GKOUN^D- WATER EESERVOIR. 125 

CAPACITY OF THE RESERVOIR. 

VARIATION IN POROSITY. 

Water is held in the ground-water reservoir in cracks and in open 
spaces between the constituent grains and in zones between strata. 
The amount of water that may be held is determined by the number 
and size of all void spaces within the soil and rock in which the 
water is stored. The percentage of void space, called "porosity," 
varies greatly in different materials and is largest in rocks composed 
of imperfectly cemented, rounded grains, and in rocks shattered and 
broken and traversed by cracks. The porosity of a rock or soil is 
expressed as a percentage of the entire volume. Thus, if 100 cubic 
feet of sandstone can absorb one-fifth of this volume, or 20 cubic feet 
of water, the rock is said to have a porosity of 20 per cent. On the 
Navajo Eeservation the bedrock consists of sandstones and shales 
with lesser amounts of lava and of limestone. The water-holding 
capacity of the various strata whose extent and outcrops are indi- 
cated on the geologic map (PI. II, in pocket) is roughly estimated 
in the following paragraphs. 

BEDROCK. 

The Pennsylvanian formations consist of sandstones and lime- 
stones with variable amounts of shale. The sandstone will absorb 
about 12 per cent of its volume ; the limestones and shales are prac- 
tically impervious. 

The Moenkopi (Permian?) formation, of shales and thin sand- 
stones, has been found to contain water between the beds wherever 
these rocks have been penetrated below the water table. The massive 
sandstone beds overlying the Moenkopi formation have a porosity of 
about 15 per cent. The quality of water from the shales of the 
Moenkopi formation is liable to be unsatisfactory. 

The Shinarump conglomerate is capable of holding about one- 
fourth gallon per cubic foot, and the plane of division between the 
Moenkopi and the Shinarump is one of the best saturated zones 
within the region and gives rise to many springs. 

The Triassic beds overlying the Shinarump conglomerate are com- 
posed largely of shales and massive limestones and have a small 
water capacity. Large parts of them hold no water in available 
form. 

The massive sandstones of the La Plata group have high porosity, 
and tests made on average specimens indicate that these sandstones 
may hold 1 quart of water per cubic foot. That these beds contain 
water in large amounts and that movement within the rock is easily 



126 THE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 

accomplished is shown by the numerous seeiDs and springs emerging 
from the rock face. 

The McElmo formation is closely similar to the upper sandstone 
of the La Plata group as regards porosity. 

The Dakota sandstone has large capacity for holding water, both 
between the constituent grains and within its innumerable open 
cavities. 

The Mancos formation is essentially shale with subordinate 
amounts of sandstone. The shales are practically impervious and 
two samples of sandstone tested showed a porosity of about 10 per 
cent. 

The sandstones of the Mesaverde formation have a porosity of 
8 to 12 per cent, and constitute one of the chief water carriers of the 
Navajo country. 

The Chuska (Tertiary) sandstone ranks next to the Dakota in its 
capacity to hold water. 

The lavas of the Chuska Mountains and of the Hopi Buttes are 
practically water-tight but are so intersected by joints as to absorb 
nearly all the water which falls directly upon them. 

UNCONSOLIDATED DEPOSITS. 

The unconsolidated mass of bowlders and gravel which flank the 
mesas at a few localities on the reservation are capable of holding 
large quantities of water. Samples from the alluvial deposits filling 
the larger washes were found to range in amount of pore space be- 
tween 6 per cent for loess and clay silts and 40 per cent for coarse 
gravels. The average for all the alluvial materials examined is 
probably not far from 25 per cent of pore space in total volume. 

METHOD OF FILLING THE GROUND- WATER RESERVOIR. 

The vast underground reservoir, consisting of the aggregate void 
space in rocks and unconsolidated sediments, may be filled, partly 
filled, or empty, for the capacity of rock and soil to hold water by 
no means insures the presence of water. Like other reservoirs, water 
must be put into them if water is later to be taken out. Ground-water 
reservoirs are filled by percolation — that is, the tendency of water 
falling. on a porous surface to pass doAvnward to the surface below 
which the soil or rock is already saturated. 

The percolating w^aters found within the ground may originate in 
one of several ways: 

Directly from the rainfall. — The amount of rain water that 
passes into the ground is subject to wide variation. On steep slopes 
rain forms rills which carry the water away so rapidl}^ that little 
opportunity is given for downward percolation. On surfaces of 



GROUND-WATER EESEEVOIK. 127 

gentle slope, and especially those with minor inequalities, such as 
sand dunes, rock pockets, and also on gi^ass-covered areas, the rain- 
fall remains on the ground long enough to find its way downward 
into cracks and pores. Where snow replaces rain the percentage of 
precipitation which enters the ground is still further increased. In 
some places the total precipitation is either absorbed or evaporated 
and none is left to form streams. On certain gravel slopes all the 
water contributed by a brief shower may pass directly into the soil. 
On the other hand, where rain falls on bedrock, percolation assumes 
low values and may not take place at all before evaporation and run- 
off remove the water from the surface. 

Percolation from streafn channels, — Perennial streams passing 
through arid districts lose water by percolation into the surrounding 
soil and rock. The same process is going on in intermittent streams 
and also in ephemeral streams. In certain localities on the reserva- 
tion the major portion of the permanent ground water has its origin 
in streams. 

Percolation from flood waters. — During the month of August, 
most of the great washes are at flood stage and the waters in the nor- 
mal channels with slight or no flow at other times of the year spread 
hundreds and even thousands of feet beyond the valley axis. These 
waters percolate downward into the porous alluvium and become part 
of the ground water. 

Of the three sources of ground water mentioned, percolation from 
stream flow appears to yield the greatest amount, followed in turn 
by direct precipitation and percolation from flood waters. 

DEPLETION OF THE RESERVOIR. 

PROCESSES or DEPLETION. 

"Water that percolates into soil and rock and is stored in voids 
between the grains and in open cavities and in cracks and joints 
constituting the ground-water reservoir does not remain undisturbed, 
sealed beyond the reach of other agents. The reservoir is continu- 
ously drawn upon and tends to become depleted by soil evapora- 
tion, transpiration, evaporation from seeps, and discharge from 
springs. 

In order that the processes whereby depletion is affected may be 
understood it should be remembered that water exists in the ground 
in two forms, " capillary water " and " gravity water." Capillary 
water occupies minute pores and forms thin films surrounding soil 
grains. It does not form part of the water that emerges as springs 
and it can not be recovered by means of wells. Some clays and fine 
silts may be saturated with water and yet yield no water to wells 



128 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

sunk in these materials because the cavities containing water are all 
of capillary size. " Gravity water " occupies those open spaces in 
the rock and soil which exceed capillary size. The water is free to 
move among the grains, through the rock or soil, in any direction 
determined by gravity. " Gravity water " may flow from the rock 
as springs or find its way into holes dug for wells or, like capillary 
water, may be removed directly by evaporation. 

EVAPORATION FROM THE GROUND. 

The depletion of the ground-water supply is in large measure 
effected by evaporation from the upper surface of the reservoir. 
Evaporation is facilitated by high temperature of soil and of air 
and by dryness of air and by winds. In all these respects the cli- 
matic conditions of the Navajo country favor high evaporation, 
particularly during the summer months. The amount of moisture 
in the surface layers of the soil is also an important factor and 
depends on the capillarity of the soil and the depth to water. In 
fine-textured soils water may be drawn upward from a greater depth 
than in coarse-textured soils. The disastrous results of excessive 
evaporation as observed in the Navajo country have one compensat- 
ing advantage. The loss of water in the upper part of the soil is so 
much more rapid than at points a short distance below the surface 
that a layer or mulch of dry soil is formed over moister portions 
beneath. The effect of this mulch of dry soil is to greatly retard 
evaporation. An understanding of this process explains the ap- 
parent contradiction that soils of arid regions taken a short distance 
below the surface may hold more moisture and retain the moisture 
longer than do soils of humid regions. 

Over parts of the reservation the water absorbed by the ground 
and having its origin in precipitation is returned to the air before 
it reaches the permanent ground-water reservoir. After single 
showers, and twice after a month of rain estimated at 2 inches, it 
was noted that test wells sunk in the Tusayan Washes encountered 
water or damp soil at depths between 1 and 4 feet, below which zone 
the alluvial sands were dry to depths exceeding 20 feet. During 
June these same places showed no water from the top to the bottom 
of the drill holes. In the sand dunes about the Hopi villages water 
sufficient for corn and for peach trees is found in a narrow zone 4 to 6 
feet beneath the surface. The sand is without moisture, both above 
and below this zone. C. H. Lee ^ found in Owens Valley that ground 
water to a depth of 8 feet below the surface was continually drawn 
upon by evaporation. 

1 U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 294, 1912. 



GEOUND-WATER RESERVOIR. 129 

An undetermined portion of the soil water reaches the air indi- 
rectly through plants which absorb moisture at their roots and 
release it from their foliage by the process known as transpiration. 
The results of all experiments indicate that the amount of soil water 
consumed by a growing plant is very large. For example, in the 
production of a ton of alfalfa about 400 tons of water is used by 
the plant, and 200 to 300 tons of water is required to produce a ton 
of corn. An average for the ordinary farm crops is 325 tons of 
water to 1 ton of dry matter.^ Though no figures are available for 
the Navajo country, it is probable that the amount of water tran- 
spired by plants during the growing season exceeds the amount 
directly evaporated. 

EVAPORATION OF SPRINGS AND SEEPS. 

Water issuing as springs further depletes the ground-water reser- 
voir. Strong springs transfer certain quantities of ground water to 
the surface supply. Many springs, however, merely serve to bring 
ground water within the sphere of action of evaporation, thus de- 
creasing the quantity of water available for man. The effect of 
evaporation on the flow of springs in this region, though not quanti- 
tatively determined, is readily observed. I have noted that in several 
springs yielding each a gallon or less a minute the flow during the 
night has nearly doubled, and my Navajo guides have pointed out 
places where springs that flow in dry but cold winter months cease to 
flow during the equally dry but warm summer months. Seeps show 
even more marked fluctuation in response to evaporation. In the 
early morning, before sunrise, wet spots were frequently observed on 
the face of sandstone ledges and occasionally w^ere found to exude 
sufficient water for camp use. During the heat of the day, however, 
all trace of seepage may disappear. On one occasion our party 
reached a " spring " late in the evening, only to find it practically dry. 
To our great surprise sufficient water was flowing next morning for 
eight horses which had been 24 hours without w^ater. 

THE WATER TABLE. 

The various processes at work to deplete the ground-water reser- 
voir result in leaving it only partly filled. The water in the upper 
layers of rock or soil is in many places drawn off, so that the top of 
the ground water is therefore not at the surface of the ground, but 
stands at a variable distance below it. The top of the ground water is 
known as the water table. (See fig. 10, p. 124.) 

Below the water table the ground is saturated; above it the soil 
or rock is relatively free from water except immediately after rain 

1 King, F. H., The soil, p. 156, 1908, 
33033°— wsp 380—16 ^9 



130 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

falls. The water table is not a horizontal plane, but roughly par- 
allels the surface of the land, rising and falling with surface eleva- 
tions and depressions. It reaches its highest elevations underneath 
hills and its lowest beneath valleys but is farthest from the sur- 
face on hills and comes nearest to the surface in depressions. At 
the margin of perennial lakes and streams the water table coincides 
Avith the surface-water level. 

These relations may be better understood if we keep in mind the 
fact that ground water, like surface w^ater, is under the control of 
gravity, which causes Avater to flow both underground and on the 
surface from the hills toward the valleys or washes. The movement 
of the surface Avater is unrestrained, and the Avater Avhich falls as 
rain immediately runs from the highlands; but the movement of 
ground Avater is very slow, less on the average than a mile a year. 
Because of this sloAvness of movement streams may haA^e constant 
flow, springs may yield water throughout the dry season, and in 
many places shallow Avells may obtain Avater even on hilltops. 

The position of the Avater table is determined by noting the level 
at which Avater stands in those wells Avhich are unaffected by artesian 
conditions. Wells of this type, exceeding 50 feet in depth, have been 
dug or drilled in connection Avith the plans for developing water for 
the NaA^ajo and Hopi Indians, and a few wells previously constructed 
are available for study. The wells are grouped in four localities — 
at Leupp in the Painted Desert, along the Tusayan Washes, in up- 
per Chinle Valley, and on the southern margin of Chaco Plateau. 
For the remaining 70 or 80 per cent of the area under discussion no 
records are available. It has been found that wells sunk in the im- 
mediate channels of the larger alluvium-filled Avashes yield supplies 
satisfactory in quantity and in quality at depths of 10 to 20 feet and 
in many places less than 6 feet. On the flat slopes leading to the 
Avashes the Avater table is reached at depths betAveen 50 and 60 feet. 
These figures, obtained from Avells sunk in unconsolidated deposits 
along the Little Colorado, the Pueblo Colorado, and the Tusayan 
Washes, are probably applicable to similar situations throughout the 
reservation. In several places Avater is found at the top of the first 
rock stratum reached in digging the well. 

For Avells in rock the figures indicating the position of the water 
table have local application only, for the impervious or pervious 
character of the rock traversed and the number and opening of joints 
are subject to Avide variation, even in neighboring localities. 

The popular belief that certain trees and bushes indicate depths 
to Avater is not borne out by field observations. The distribution of 
vegetation with reference to depth of water table is, however, a topic 
of interest. Studies in Owens Valley, Cal., where the mean annual 
precipitation is less than that for the Navajo country, have shown 



ARTESIAN WATER. 131 

that fresh-water grass thrives where the depth to ground water does 
not exceed 3 feet; that m general grass is absent from areas where 
the water table is depressed below 8 feet. Sagebrush, greasewood, 
rabbit bush, and bunch grass survive where the water table lies 12 
to 20 feet below the surface.^ So far as fresh-water and salt-water 
grass and plants adjusted to alkali soils are concerned, the conditions 
on the Navajo Keservation duplicate those in Owens Valley; but sage 
and a variety of grasses and annuals grow about well sites, where the 
permanent water table lies 30 to 50 feet below the surface. Even the 
Cottonwood, whose presence usually indicates a depth to water not 
exceeding 20 feet, is found growing in the lower Oraibi Wash at a 
spot where the water table is at least 50 feet below the surface! The 
explanation of these phenomena appears to be that a saturated zone 
produced by percolation rests, for part of the year at least, between 
the ground surface and the water table. 

The fluctuation of the water table with the seasons and from year 
to year must be considerable, but the wells have been in existence for 
too short a time to give significant data. 

QUALITY OF GROUND WATER. 

No chemical studies have been made of the waters of the Navajo 
Reservation, but the following statements are believed to be of gen- 
eral application. Springs and wells observed in the Moenkopi for- 
mation except two, in Bonito Canyon and Box Springs, yield alka- 
line water. Water from this formation at Douglass Camp is unfit 
for man or beast. Most of the springs in the uppermost Triassic 
formation (Chinle) and in the Mancos shale are also unpalatable. 
Water from the Triassic shales at Chinle School is of such quality 
as to merit condemnation. Springs in other formations furnish 
supplies suitable for all purposes. Only about 2 per cent of the wells 
and shallow pits sunk in the alluvial fills of the washes were found 
to have water unfit for use. 

ARTESIAN WATER. 

The ground-water reservoir ordinarily is filled by percolation at 
or near the place where ground water occurs. The water, therefore, 
is not confined under pressure but moves more or less freely, and the 
water table rises and sinks in accordance with climatic changes in 
the immediate vicinity. There is, however, another ground-water 
storage reservoir in which the waters are not affected by climatic 
changes in the region immediately overlying them and may find 
their sources in regions many miles distant. Such waters are under 
pressure, being held by a cap of impervious material. When the 

1 U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 294, p. 77, 1912. 



132 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

pressure is released by puncturing the roof of the reservoir, as by a 
well drill, the water rises through the impervious stratum which 
hitherto has confined it. The pressure may be sufficient to force to 
the surface the water from this deep-seated reservoir or may be 
only enough to cause a rise of a few feet. In either event the water 
is " artesian," for this term is applied to all ground waters that show 
an appreciable rise when struck, whether or not the pressure is 
sufficient to produce floAvs at the surface. In the Navajo country 
artesian water has been found on the Chaco Plateau and is believed 
to be present in Chuska Valley, the upper Chinle Valley, in the 
northern part of Gothic Mesas, and to a less extent elsewhere. Such 
areas are reserved for description in connection with a discussion 
of wells (pp. 176-183). 

SPRINGS. 

DISTEIBUTION AND CHARACTER. 

One of the surprises that awaits the traveler in the Navajo country' 
is the large number of springs widely distributed over the reserva- 
tion. Tucked away in alcoves in the high mesa walls or issuing 
from crevices in the canyon sides or bubbling up through sands in 
the long wash floors, these tiny supplies of water appear to be dis- 
tributed in haphazard fashion. Few of the hundreds of little springs 
yield more than a gallon a minute ; some of them are charged with 
salts, and many of them are accessible only to a man on foot. Safe 
traveling in this region involves a knowledge of the location of these 
springs, and exploration consists essentially in directing one's course 
from spring to spring. The ancient cliff dweller was well aware of 
the desirability of these small permanent supplies as centers for 
settlement, and many of the present-day Indian trails owe their 
position to the location of springs rather than to topography or to 
length of route. 

The chief reason why the springs of the reservation are so clearly 
defined is the boldness of the topography. Valley floor meets can- 
yon wall or mesa face or mountain border abruptly. High walls of 
bare rock in many places join the alluvial fill of washes at angles 
approaching 90°. There is a singular absence of talus and of fans 
flanking the highlands. Springs therefore emerge directly from rock 
walls without the intervention of a cloak of sands, gravels, and bowl- 
ders, which tend to conceal the opening by which ground water leaves 
the rock. Also the recent cutting of the floors in alluvium-filled can- 
yons has exposed the point of emergence of water formerly hidden from 
vieAV. An additional reason for the individuality of springs is their 
more or less complete separation from the perennial drainage and 
their independence of the short-period fluctuations in rainfall and 



SPRINGS. 133 

ephemeral stream flow. In general the springs flow from a definite 
spot rather than from an undefined area of swamp, and their waters 
rarely extend far from the exit. 

Nearly all the springs on the reservation are of the normal type — 
that is, they mark points of escape of ground water which has entered 
the rock or alluvium at higher levels and found its way downward 
and outward through cracks, between grains, and along bedding- 
planes. A few springs are artesian in character and reach the sur- 
face only after finding an opening in impervious beds through which 
the water is forced upward by pressure exerted at some distant 
locality. The Boiling Spring (Navajo, Tohalushi) in Laguna 
Canyon and the Mud Springs at Tuye on the Chaco Plateau illustrate 
flows which escape under pressure from retaining beds of clay and 
silt. 

With respect to mode of origin the springs of the Navajo country 
may be grouped in five classes, namely, springs in unconsolidated 
materials, springs between ledge and alluvial cover, springs emerging 
from the contact of two rock strata, springs within a single stratum, 
and springs emerging from fault lines. 

SPRINGS IN UNCONSOLIDATED DEPOSITS. 
GENEKAL RELATIONS. 

Springs issuing from unconsolidated deposits are found in the 
bottoms of the main washes and their tributaries, on slopes buried 
with talus, or within materials of alluvial fans. An alternation of 
porous and relatively impervious layers is essential, otherwise the 
percolating water tends to sink downward to join the permanent 
ground-water reservoir from which it may be recovered only by 
means of wells. The most favorable arrangement is a series of beds 
of clay and adobe interstratified with sands or gravels — a series of 
strata whose edges are exposed by erosion. Springs of this type 
emerge on flat or sloping surfaces, or directly from alluvial walls 
bounding arroyos, and their presence is indicated by bogs or by areas 
of sand through which water bubbles continuously or intermittently 
in response to precipitation and evaporation. In many places the 
water feeding the spring is held near the surface; elsewhere the 
water-bearing bed lies some distance below the surface and the out- 
let slopes obliquely upward, traversing porous lenses in the alluvium. 

At St. Michaels two short canyons with numerous tributaries unite 
to form a wash whose floor is so thoroughly saturated with water 
that native grass has a luxuriant growth. This is the well-known 
meadow Cienega Amarilla. From the walls of arroyos in the 
meadow springs issue at a definite horizon between coarse and fine 
sands. (See PI. XXVI, B^ p. 111.) The supply from these springs 



134 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

and from shallow flowing wells in the garden is sufficient for the uses 
of the large school conducted at this place. Similar conditions have 
given rise to Manuelito and other springs within Chuska Valley, 
where layers of adobe underlie deposits of gravel and of wind-blown 
sand. In Segihatsosi Canyon, where the terraced valley fill is 40 
to 50 feet deep, many springs emerge from the alluvial strata at 
the base of the lower terraces and also from the arroyo walls. Near 
Fluted Eock several springs emerge from the alluvium of the flat- 
floored valleys. Awatobi Springs form the outlet for waters confined 
in alluvium and dunes which cover the canyon floor. Because of 
their relatively large flow (6 to 10 gallons a minute) the springs at 
this place have served in turn as a center of residence for cliff 
dweller, Hopi, and Navajo. The springs about the flanks of the 
Hopi Mesas and the War God Spring on Navajo Mountain are 
examples of outflows of water confined in talus and landslide mate- 
rials. 

METHODS or IMPR0\T:MENT. 

The purpose of development of springs is twofold — to increase 
the available supply and to improve the quality of water for domestic 
uses. In respect to both these purposes the springs on the reserva- 
tion are susceptible of great improvement. When my studies were 
begun in this region (1909) probably not more than a dozen springs 
had received proper attention. During the last few years much work 
has been done by the Indian Office, particularly on the Hopi Ees- 
ervation, and in imitation of the white man's work the Indian has 
undertaken development on his own account. Under the guidance 
of Government officials the condition of springs throughout the 
entire Navajo country will probably be much improved during the 
next decade. No spring can be said to be fully developed until a 
large part of its flow is recovered, provision is made for the storage 
of surplus waters, and part, at least, of its waters has been protected 
from contamination. Under present conditions few springs recover 
more than 50 per cent of the flow, many of them less than 10 per 
cent, and several springs capable of furnishing 1 to 3 gallons per 
minute are represented by useless seeps or areas of moist sand. Many 
of the springs are in a filthy condition, and the droppings of stock 
and of wild animals not uncommonly are included in the water used 
by man. 

For springs and seeps in unconsolidated materials on valley floors 
or gentle slopes the simplest method of development is to sink boxes 
of wood or tile or cement at the point where water emerges most 
freely from the ground. These boxes should have a large cross sec- 
tion, perhaps 10 or 15 by 5 feet, and should be set at right angles to 



SPRINGS. 



135 



the immediate slope of the surface. They should be tightly covered 
to retard evaporation and to prevent contamination, and water for 
stock should be piped to troughs or basins at lower levels. It is 
highly desirable to have some method of shutting off the flow when 
water is not being used. At a few places the Navajos have exca- 
vated holes, cribbed them with cedar poles, and led the overflow 
through ditches to pools. The method is correct, but the loss from 
evaporation and soil absorption could be greatly reduced by substi- 
tuting covered concrete boxes, iron pipes, and cement or wood 
troughs. In those places w^here seeps or springs occur within arroyos 
subject to flood it is usually advisable to sink a well on the bank 
to a depth below the point of emergence of the spring. The supply 
yielded by springs that emerge on talus slopes, on landslides, and on 
the steeper parts of alluvial fans may in many places be greatly 
increased by constructing tunnels and galleries. (See fig. 11.) 




Figure 11. — Diagram illustrating method of constructing a kariz. 

The spring or seep determines the heading of the tunnel, which 
should be projected backward into the loose material with a slight 
upward slope. The length of such tunnels may be limited only by 
the rock slope encountered, and groups of lateral galleries may be 
provided. In Persia and Turkestan, where, under the name " kariz," 
such horizontal wells are in common use for stock and for irrigation, 
the galleries are not uncommonly several miles long. The method 
of construction adopted in Persia is to sink shafts at intervals of 
100 to 200 feet along the axis of the kariz. From the bottom of 
each shaft the tunnel is driven in both directions. The Persian prac- 
tice is to leave the tunnels and shafts open and to clean out each year 
the material which slumps into the kariz. An equally satisfactory 
method, and one which would obviate the annual cleaning would be 
to fill the tunnels and laterals with cobbles, through which the water 
could circulate freely. 

In developing springs in unconsolidated materials it should be 
remembered that strata of silt, gravel, sand, and clay are rarely 
continuous for more than 100 feet — at most a few himdred feet — 
and that therefore it is seldom possible to determine accurately the 
extent of the underground reservoir or the quantity of water 
available. 



136 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

SPRINGS BETWEEN ALLUVIUM AND BEDROCK. 
GENERAL RELATIONS. 

In contrast with soils, sand dunes, and the filling of the washes 
bedrock retards the downward percolation of water; in fact, some 
types of rock, particularly shale, are so impervious as to prevent it. 
The top surface of rock ledges buried under unconsolidated mate- 
rials becomes therefore in many places a water-bearing horizon of 
considerable importance. Where conditions are favorable water finds 
its way along the rock surface and emerges as springs. The per- 
manence and yield of springs of this origin depend on the amount of 
water stored in the overlying sands and gravels, the degree of per- 
meability of the underlying rock stratum, and the extent to which 
evaporation succeeds in depleting the supply. In the Navajo coun- 
try springs issuing between bedrock and alluvial cover occur most 
commonly in two situations — in rock-floored, alluvium-walled can- 
yons and in shallow flats ad joining, areas where wind-blown sand 
combines with stream deposits to form a good collecting area. At the 
base of alluvial banks in the recently cut inner canyon of the Tyende 
springs issue along the rock surface at a number of places and for 
stretches of hundreds of feet a continuous line of seeps may be ob- 
served. In Black Creek Valley, at Hunter Point, and at Oak Spring 
the top of the ledge beneath the alluvium is coated with a film of 
water. At White's trading post, where the water table is 20 feet 
below the surface, water emerges as springs on top of a rock ledge 
and continues to flow throughout the dry season. Coyote Springs, 
near Pyramid Butte, consist of seeps extending along a shallow wash 
for a distance of 300 to 400 feet. The overlying beds are lenticular 
masses of gravel, sand, and adobe and the beds below are red shales. 
At Chandler ranch the rainfall is collected on a low mesa covered 
with wind-blown sands overlying coarse alluvium, which in turn 
rests on shales. A seepage line marked by grass and " water bloom " 
extends with interruptions about 1,000 feet along the mesa wall. 
Excavation at one point produced a flow of IJ gallons a minute 
where previously only seepage reached the surface. The large Tan- 
ner Spring and its smaller companions emerge at the top of shale 
ledges and the supply at Tyende has a similar origin. 

METHOD OF DEVELOPMENT. 

In planning improvements for springs issuing between alluvium 
and bedrock it should be borne in mind that the ground water forms 
a thin sheet of great horizontal dimensions; that a zone of seepage 
marked only by damp soil or a narrow band of luxuriant vegetation 
may represent flows of considerable volume, now checked by evapora- 



SPEINGS. 137 

tion. The object of development is to collect at one point the waters 
now widely distributed. Various methods have been devised to ac- 
complish this purpose. 

At Coyote Spring a box is sunk into the ground at the point of 
greatest flow. At Chandler ranch a basin is excavated in the rock 
below the zone of flow. At Tyende a ditch has been dug along 
the line of seepage and the water directed into reservoirs at lower 
points. Comar Springs flow from the contact of rock with coarse 
sand and volcanic ash. The porosity of the surface material and the 
large collecting area cause the strong flow at this point. 

Where the unconsolidated deposits are not too thick, subsurface 
dams of board, clay, cement, or other impervious materials, placed 
either at right angles to the direction of underground flow or built 
in the form of a broad V may be constructed. A tight contact 
between dam and rock and an outlet for the water are the only 
requisites. Where the materials are of such nature that water per- 
colates slowly, ditches filled with bowlders, among which water may 
pass freely, may be substituted for the subsurface dam. Where the 
rock consists of talus or slide debris the extent of the film of water is 
difficult to determine. For such places the supply may be increased 
by digging a ditch or driving a tunnel directly into the hillside at 
the point where the largest amount of water emerges, and construct- 
ing laterals leading from it. The ditch may be covered or filled with 
cobbles. By this method the outlet is brought nearer the chief supply, 
and the heads of a number of small seeps may be combined into one 
flowing stream. The water supply at Sunrise Spring (Navajo, 
Kaiso-an, place where trees have been set out), at Indian Wells, and 
at Maddox (Stiles ranch) illustrate the successful application of this 
principle. If a large amount of water is desired the rock ledge may 
be followed back for hundreds of feet and a kariz constructed as 
was recommended for springs in unconsolidated materials. (See 
p. 135.) 

Where the unconsolidated materials overlying rock are relatively 
thin, the construction of a well back of the zone of seepage may be 
found less expensive than the excavation necessary to develop the 
spring. 

SPRINGS BETWEEN ROCK STRATA. 
GENERAL RELATIONS. 

Springs at the contact between strata of solid rock constitute the 
largest and most valuable source of water in the Navajo country. 
They range in yield from mere seeps to 20 gallons a minute, 
and are least liable to fluctuation of all the classes represented. 
Like springs issuing between rock ledge and cover of unconsolidated 



138 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

material, their position is determined by the relative permeability 
of strata, and the amount of water recovered by them depends on 
the extent and character of the collecting area, the porosity of the 
overlying rock, and the tightness of the underlying beds. The 
quality of water depends on the composition of the strata through 
which the rain finds its way downward. The beds of high porosity 
through which water may pass with relative ease are the sandstones ; 
shales and limestones, on the other hand, serve to intercept percola- 
tion. In the sedimentary rocks of the Navajo country there are 
seven well-marked spring horizons. 

1. The contact between the Moenkopi formation and the Shin- 
arump conglomerate. The conglomerate is more or less pervious and 
is broken by numerous joints. The water escapes downward until 
intercepted by shales or fine sandstones. The plane on which the 
film of water rests is irregular, and the incipient channels formed 
lead in most places to definite outlets rather than to lines of seepage. 
The water is invariably of good quality, as shown by Janus Spring, 
Tucker Springs, and the springs about 4 miles east of Agathla. 

2. The contact between the Chinle formation and the Wingate 
sandstone. The sandstone possesses high porosity; the shales and 
limestones of the Chinle are much less pervious. The water from 
this source is of excellent quality. 

3. The contact between the Todilto formation and the Navajo 
sandstone of the La Plata group. The Todilto limestone, the middle 
formation of the La Plata group, is not everywhere present, but where 
it occurs it constitutes a stratum that is unusually water-tight. The 
overlying Navajo sandstone imbibes water freely, and the wide expo- 
sures of this formation make it one of the chief water carriers of 
the region and one from which water of excellent quality may be 
obtained. 

4. The contact between the McElmo formation, of fine sandstone 
and shales, and the overlying Dakota sandstone which is noted for 
its porosity. The springs of the Steamboat Canyon district and 
those near Bitsihuitsos Butte illustrate' this class. The supplies 
from this horizon range in quality from water adapted for all pur- 
poses to that with a fairly high content of iron. 

5. The contact between the Mancos shale and the sandstones of 
the widespread Mesaverde formation. Water of good quality issues 
from this horizon at 30 or 40 springs about the edge of the Black 
Mesa and at other localities where Cretaceous strata are represented. 
The agency and schools at Keams Canyon and in part the Hopi vil- 
lages are supplied by springs of this type. 

6. The contact between the Chuska sandstone and the underlying 
Tohachi shale. (See pp. 140-141.) 



SPRINGS. 



139 



7. The contact between the lavas and ash of the Hopi Buttes 
region and the underlying sedimentary rocks. (See below.) 

Water also issues in a few places between strata forming parts of a 
single formation. Half a dozen springs are found between the sand- 
stones and shales within the Moenkopi formation. One of these, Box 
Springs, on the Little Colorado, yields water of satisfactory quality, 
but most of the springs of Gypsum Valley are highly charged with 
alkali. The Chinle formation and the Mancos shale likewise are 
represented by a few springs, but the quality of the water recovered 
is such as to render them of little value. The Mesaverde formation, 
on the other hand, is composed of a series of sandstones and shales 
and has within itself the requisite conditions for the production of a 
few springs, both of pure water and of water charged with sulphur. 

SPRINGS OF THE HOPI BUTTES PROVINCE. 

The Hopi Buttes embrace a group of volcanic necks and of lava- 
capped mesas which rise sheer above the flat-floored washes at theii' 
base. The mesa caps range in size from a few acres to the large 
central area of partly connected tables, Hauke Mesa, nearly 100 




Figure 12. — Diagram illustrating the conditions producing the springs in the Hopi Buttes 

region. 

square miles in extent. The mesa sides are made up of sandstone 
and shales of various ages; their tops are formed by sheets of lava 
20 to 100 feet thick. Within the lavas and in certain localities be- 
neath them are beds of volcanic ash and of tuff. The surface of the 
lavas is roughened by pits and cracks and shallow depressions which 
retain the rainfall to a large degree and direct it downward instead 
of outward through established drainage channels. The circulation 
of water within the mesas follows therefore a simple plan. The rain 
percolates into and through the porous and fissured lava, into the ash, 
only to be arrested by the more impervious sedimentary strata be- 
low, along which it passes to the mesa edge (fig. 12). The result is 
a series of springs emerging at the base of the lavas, springs whose 
volume is directly related to the size of the lava field from which their 
supply is drawn. The large central mass produces many springs, the 
smaller groups of mesas have fewer springs with less total yield, 
and most of the isolated mesas an acre or two in surficial extent 
have one or more tiny springs or seeps (fig. 13). 



140 



THE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 



At the old stiles ranch (Maddox) there are three sets of springs 
floAving, respectively, 2, 4J, and 5 quarts a minute, as measured in 
June, 1909. They all emerge from the base of the lava. At Cotton- 
wood Spring the water escapes from an ash bed at its contact with 
underlying shale; at Cedar Springs about a gallon a minute is re- 
covered from tuff. At Lokasakad the water from the lava contact 
passes into the soil and emerges as a bubbling spring yielding 8 to 10 
gallons per minute. At Indian Wells water is recovered by a group 



LEGEND 




Lava 



SediTnentar^ rock' 



Figure 13. — Map of a part of the Hopi Buttes province, showing the distribution of lava 
and sedimentary rocls with reference to the position of springs. 

of shallow pits and tunnels sunk in an alluvium-filled swale between 
lava cliffs, but its ultimate source appears to be the contact of the 
lava and the sandstone. 



SPRINGS or CHUSKA MOUNTAIN. 

Along the eastern front of Chuska Mountain, at an elevation of 
about 8,200 feet, a rough-floored terrace extends for several miles. 
The inner edge of the terrace is marked by cliffs of sandstone 200 to 
500 feet high; its outer edge is littered with landslide debris and 
breaks off by a series of steps to join the lower slope of the moun- 
tain. The terrace is occupied by prosperous Navajo farmers whose 
fields are well watered by springs that emerge at the base of the 
precipitous sandstone wall. I am informed that 11 of these springs 
are utilized for irrigation and that there are more than 30 springs 
at this horizon between Tohachi and Washington Pass. The largest 



SPRINGS. 



141 



of these springs observed by me is Nikehoshi (Navajo: One eye; 
named after the self-styled owner), which issues at two points and 




Figure 14. 



-Diagram illustrating tlie conditions producing springs on tiie east flank of 
Chuska Mountain. 



yields 30 gallons a minute. About half this amount is utilized in 
irrigating fields for 14 Navajo families (fig. 14). 



METHODS or IMPROVEMENT. 

Plans for increasing the flow of springs emerging between rock 
strata involve the following fundamental considerations. The water 
resting on the impervious bed forms a thin sheet of large dimensions ; 
the porous bed above is more or less saturated with water; water 
percolates outward from the face of the rock as well as downward 
to the confining bed; springs and seeps and wet rock surfaces, as 
well as rock faces, moist only during the night, may derive their 




Figure 15. — Diagram illustrating method of combining several small scattered flows from 

rock. 

waters from a common source, and all tend to deplete the supply ; the 
amount of water evaporated from heated rock faces may equal the 
flow of a spring of moderate size. 

The purpose of developing springs of this class is to recover all the 
water possible from a given length of cliff line, to convert a series 
of seeps and small springs into one large spring, and to reduce the 
amount of water lost by evaporation. One method of accomplishing 
this result is to drive a tunnel into the water-bearing strata, using 



142 THE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 

the top of the impervious bed as the floor of the tunnel. Lateral 
drifts from the central tunnel would recover water otherwise lost by 
evaporation. Another method is to construct a covered ditch along 
the rock face at the level where seeps occur in order to combine 
several small supplies into a single larger one. Open trenches may 
give satisfactory results, but a large loss from evaporation must be 
expected. 

An unfailing supply has been obtained at Tucker Springs by tun- 
neling beneath the conglomerate forming the cap of a local mesa and 
the only reliable supply of water between Gallup and Fort Defiance 
is obtained from a series of tunnels about 150 feet long driven along 
the contact between strata of shale and of sandstone. At Burro 
Springs, which makes the Winslow-Oraibi road feasible for travelers, 
tanks have been sunk in the rock at the base of porous sandstone. 
A cover of poles protects the supply not only from stock but from 
rapid eva^Doration. At Lizard Spring, about 6 miles north of 
Ganado, a trench 20 feet long and 1 foot to 10 feet deep would con- 
vert several tiny springs into a satisfactory supply. (See fig. 15.) 
The yield of the spring at the Lower Crossing of Piute Canyon 
could probably be increased to 60 or 80 gallons per minute by a 
shallow rock trench 500 feet long. The springs at Keams Canyon, 
Wepo, Howell Mesa, Hopi Buttes, Monument Valley, Moonlight 
Valley, Tyende, and other localities are susceptible of improvement 
by inexpensive ditches and tunnels. 

Of the many springs issuing between rock strata none were ob- 
served which yield their maximum supply; 25 to 50 per cent of the 
water is recovered from about half of the springs now utilized, and 
at several places noted the entire flow is lost by absorption in sands. 
This proportion of water recovered to the amount available holds 
true of all classes of springs on the reservation. At a point on 
Carson Mesa a few minutes' digging in wind-blown sands resulted 
in exposing a water horizon in rock from which a flow of a gallon 
a minute was obtained. On the west slope of Tunitcha Mountain, 
Lieut. Gurovits reports that by digging with branches broken off 
trees the flow of a spring was increased from about 30 quarts a 
minute to 16 gallons a minute.^ 

SPRINGS WITHIN A STRATUM. 

The water stored within the massive beds of sandstone may find 
its way to the surface before reaching an impervious layer below. 
The Navajo sandstone in particular gives rise to numerous springs 
of this sort. The water emerges between cross-bedding laminae on 
oblique or curved or horizontal planes and at a few places — for 
example, at Tunnel Springs — ^has enlarged joints and interstratum 

1 52d Cong., 2d sess., Ex. Doc. 68, p. 20, 1893. 



SPRINGS. 143 

spaces into alcoves and tunnels large enough to allow the entrance 
of a man. Sixteen springs issuing from the sandstones of the La Plata 
group and yielding from half a pint to several gallons a minute 
of clear, pure water were utilized by members of my party for camp 
supplies; and more than 100 tiny seeps in the Navajo sandstone were 
found hidden away in alcoves and under shelves, many of them in 
places difficult of access. On one occasion disaster was averted by the 
knowledge that seeps may be found on the sheer bare walls of dry- 
floored canyons carved in cross-bedded sandstones. Springs of this 
type may be developed by artificial tunnels driven along the water- 
bearing contact in accordance with the plan suggested by the natural 
openings. 

PAULT SPRINGS. 

Many springs of all classes utilize joints within the rocks, and 
the underground flow of some springs is greatly facilitated by the 
presence of open fissures, along which water finds its way. Fault 
springs are, however, rare, for faults with a throw of more than a 
few feet are recorded for less than a half dozen places on the reser- 
vation. In fact, the only spring noted which unquestionably has its 
origin in a fault zone is found in Junction Canyon, at which place 
1 gallon of water a minute issues from a fault of 6 feet displacement 
in the Navajo sandstone. 

SPRINGS OF THE TUBA DISTRICT. 
GENERAL RELATIONS. 

Tuba is a veritable oasis — a patch of green in the midst of a most 
forbidding desert. Surrounded on all sides by stretches of bare red 
rock, across which dunes are continually driven by southwest winds, 
this spot has been the seat of an agricultural population since times 
long antedating the discovery of America. The Spanish padres 
found the ancestors of the present Hopis cultivating cotton and corn 
in fields centuries old ; explorers of later days have known the spot, 
and its advantages were recognized by the Mormon pioneers. About 
1878 a group of Utah Mormons made their way across the Colorado 
and established a permanent settlement on this site, which, under 
the guiding hand of these skillful irrigators, soon reached a high 
stage of cultivation. The Mormon colonists who replaced the Hopi 
and Navajo were in turn replaced by Government officials, who have 
made Tuba the administrative and educational center of the Western 
Navajo Reservation. One giant spring, with a smaller companion, 
is the reason for the position of Tuba itself, but more than 30 addi- 
tional springs account for the presence of fields and homes in the 
vicinity. Tuba may be said to rest near the edge of a table, two 



144 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 



sides of which are marked by cliffs from whose base emerge springs 
a short distance apart ; a third side is a canyon, through Avhich flows 
a spring- fed brook; on the fourth side, the north, an unbroken desert 
reaches the very edge of the irrigated fields. 

The positions of the springs of the Tuba district are indicated on 
the maps (PL XXVII and fig. 16), which in slightly modified form 
are those kindly furnished by H. F. Robinson, superintendent of 
irrigation for the Indian Office. 

The discharge of the springs is shown by the following table: 

Discharge of springs of the Tuba district. 
[Observer, R. Ritter.] 





Discharge. 


Date of 
record. 




Name. 


Gallons 
mmute. 


Second- 
feet. 


Remarks. 


Springs on the Tuba school 
groxmds: 

A 


1 44.8 
35.8 

224.4 

72 
25 

42 
79 

100 


0.1 

.08 

.5 

.16 
.055 

.093 
.17 

.20 


May, 1908. 
...do 

...do. 

...do 

...do 

...do 

...do 


The combined flow of A, B, and C as 
given by Ritter in 1908 was 80.6 gallons 
per minute. Robinson, measuring the 
two large springs, probably A and B of 
Ritter, reports a combined flow amount- 
ing to 112.5 gallons per minute (1914). 


B 


C 


Springs in Reservoir Canyon . 
Springs along Echo Cliffs: 


Lyon ranch 


Combined flow of springs from east and 

south. 
Combined flow of all springs at this place. 


Willow Springs. 




Combined flow of all other springs within 

the Echo Cliffs area. 
Not measured; estimate based on the 


Springs in Moenkopi Wash . . 




statement that "the flow from these 
springs is about half that from Reser- 
voir Canyon." 




623 


1.36 



ORIGIN OF THE SPRINGS. 

In unpublished reports on file in the Indian Office and the Forest 
Service the springs of the Tuba district are stated to have their origin 
in faults which are assumed to outline Echo Cliffs and to traverse 
the Government school grounds. This hypothesis was kept in mind 
during my brief examination of this area, and step faulting on a 
minute scale was noted at Moa Ave; but no faults of more than a 
few inches displacement — faults of a type found in the sandstones 
at many places on the reservation — were observed. The strati- 
graphic succession — massive, cross-bedded Navajo sandstone overly- 
ing thinner bedded sandstones and arenaceous shales — is esssentially 
unbroken, and the arrangement of beds is apparently identical with 
that south of the Moenkopi Wash. 

The massive cross-bedded sandstone, as well as thin strata of shale 
and sandstone, are, however, traversed by joints, in many places 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 380 PLATE XXVII 




SPRINGS. 



145 



open, and there is a well- 
marked plane of sepa- 
ration between the lam- 
inae of cross bedding in 
the Navajo sandstone. 
At Moa Ave, Lyon 
ranch, and the Govern- 
ment farm the water 
issues from the base of a 
100-foot cliff of sand- 
stone at its contact with 
red shales. At Willow 
Springs and in Reser- 
voir Canyon the water 
emerges from joints and 
at the junction of two 
sets of cross-bedded 
strata, and the big 
School Spring appears 
to have the same origin. 
The geologic struc- 
ture favorable for the 
accumulation of ground 
water at Tuba is as fol- 
lows: The Navajo sand- 
stone, which forms the 
surface rock on Kaibito 
Plateau, has high poros- 
ity, and its surface is so 
completely occupied by 
wind - scoured depres- 
sions and irregularly 
placed dunes that run- 
off is almost entirely 
prevented. Tuba is sit- 
uated on the western 
limb of a flat syncline at 
a point where the dips 
of 15° ± shown in the 
northern Echo Cliffs flat- 
ten to 3° and then to 1°. 
Moreover, the axis of the 
syncline pitches south- 
33033°— wsp 380—16— 



Approximate scale 

2,000 4,000 Feet 




Figure 16. — Map of Echo Cliffs between Lyon ranch 
and Willow Springs, showing distribution of 
springs. 

-10 



146 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

ward toward Moenkopi Wash. The consequence is that water falling 
on a well- displayed collecting basin is imbibed by rocks of high 
water-holding capacity and is directed southward and southwest- 
ward by the structural arrangement of the sedimentary beds 

(% 17). 

At first sight it would appear that the precipitation on the Kaibito 
Plateau is insufficient to supply the numerous springs in the vicinity 
of Tuba. If, however, we assume that the catchment area for the 
spring waters is the portion of the Kaibito Plateau which slopes 
toward the Moenkopi and that the average annual rainfall is 5.30 
inches, the amount for Tuba, we find that 93,000,000,000 gallons of 
water falls on the collecting area each year, sufficient to provide for a 
flow of 170,000 gallons a minute. As the conditions for absorption 
are unusually favorable, and as the combined flow of the springs 



Springs- 




Springs ■§ cc^ Springs 



Figure 17. — Section across Kaibito Plateau, illustrating the conditions which determine 
the distribution of springs at Tuba. 

in the Tuba district is only about 623 gallons a minute, it is obvious 
that no distant or deep-seated source need be ascribed to the springs 
of the Tuba district. 

METHODS OF IMPROVEMENT. 

N'one of the springs along the 7-mile stretch from Lyon ranch to 
Willow Springs are utilized to their full capacity. The water 
emerges as strong flows but is soon absorbed by the sand. At Lyon 
ranch are several undeveloped seeps in addition to four good springs. 
The water from one of these springs flows at the rate of IJ gallons a 
minute but is lost in sand within 200 yards of its source. At this 
place, at Moa Ave, and, in fact, at all the springs issuing from the 
base of Echo Cliffs, the available supply could be increased perhaps 
100 per cent by constructing concrete reservoirs at the point of 
greatest flow and adding to this supply the flow of adjoining seeps 
by a series of covered ditches. The construction of tunnels and gal- 
leries would further increase the yield. At the Government farm a 
concrete reservoir 25 by 27 by 6 feet has been constructed at a spring 
on the cliff slope, and the water delivered by 3,000 feet of If-inch 
pipe. A similar plan has been followed at the Moenkopi Mission and 
may serve as a guide in developing other springs feeding directly 
into the Moenkopi Wash. The water from three large springs and 
several seeps in Reservoir Canyon is impounded by dams. This 
canyon is doomed to extinction by filling with wind-blown sand. 
The time is ripe for completing the sj^stem of galleries and tile drains 



SPRINGS. 147 

and stone culverts on and beloAv the present floor of the canyon and 
leading the combined flow of all the springs to fields in the wash 
below. If this is done the obliteration of the canyon by filling will 
work no injury and may result in increasing the supply by retarding 
evaporation. The combined flow of the springs in Eeservoir Canyon 
is placed by Mr. Bitter at one-half second-foot, or 224 gallons, a 
minute, a most important supply available for use in addition to, or 
as a substitute for, the mud-laden flood waters of the Moenkopi. The 
tliree springs on the Tuba Agency grounds have a combined flow, 
as measured by Mr. Eitter, of 0.18 second-foot, or nearly 80 gallons, 
a minute, about half of which issues from the School Spring. The 
water is impounded by, a series of reservoirs and used to irrigate 
about 40 acres of field and orchard but is allowed to go to waste dur- 
ing five months of the year, when water is not needed for crops. 
Ten to eighteen per cent of the discharge from springs on the school 
grounds is lost before reaching the reservoir. It is estimated that 
by means of a properly constructed storage system water may be 
recovered in sufficient quantity to irrigate 100 to 125 acres in addition 
to supplying the school with an adequate amount. 

SPRING RECORDS. 

The springs listed in the following tables include most of those 
visited by members of my party during the years 1909, 1910, 1911, 
and 1913. Mr. George A. Keepers, allotting agent, has kindly fur- 
nished the location of springs for Tps. 23 and 24 N"., K. 21 E., and 
at other points in the southern part of the Hopi Buttes area. Mr. 
J. W. Bush, acting agent at Leupp, has also taken pains to furnish 
a list of springs, arranged by sections, part of which has been used 
in the tables. To Mr. Matthew M. Murphy, allotting agent, I am 
indebted for the precise location of 21 springs in the Tusayan 
Washes province. Information regarding many springs has been 
obtained from Navajos and Hopis and from traders and Govern- 
ment officials. The list is, however, incomplete and doubtless con- 
tains errors due to misinterpretation of the statements of the In- 
dians and to other causes. Moreover, with the base map used, all 
locations are necessarily approximate. 

The springs were visited at various times, and few of them were 
seen more than once. Some of them were measured during May, 
June, and the first part of July, the dry season; and others after 
the annual rains had begun. The records obtained have, therefore, 
only qualitative value. The yield of the springs at Tuba was meas- 
ured by engineers of the Indian Office; on the other hand, the 
flow of certain springs not visited by members of my party has been 
estimated from statements made by Navajo guides. 



148 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

In the accompanying tables the springs are arranged by geo- 
graphic provinces (see PL I, in pocket), as follows: Nos. 1-10, But- 
ton Plateau; 11-12, Chaco Plateau; 13-40, Chuska Valley; 41-62, 
Chuska Mountains; 63-65, Manuelito Plateau; 66-69, Black Creek 
Valley; 70-93, Defiance Plateau; 94-120, Pueblo Colorado and Chinle 
Valley; 121-159, Hopi Buttes; 160^169, Tusayan Washes; 170-225, 
Black Mesa; 226-228, Moenkopi Plateau; 229-239, Kaibito Plateau; 
240-245, Eainbow Plateau; 246-247, Navajo Mountain; 248-249, 
Shato Plateau; 250-258, Segi Mesas; 259-262, Monument Valley; 
263-267, Gothic Mesas; 268-276, Carrizo Mountain; 277-283, Painted 
Desert. 



SPRINGS. 



149 




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150 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 



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SPRINGS. 



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152 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 



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SPRINGS. 






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154 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRYo 



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SPRINGS. 



155 










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156 



THE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 









^^ Bda 



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CI <N N CSJ <N N W <N NC 






SPRINGS. 



157 



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158 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 



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e<) (N IM (N cs <N 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 159 

WELLS. 
GENERAL CONDITIONS. 

It is conceivable that the development of all the springs and the 
construction of hundreds of storm-water reservoirs might bring the 
grazing lands of the Navajo country within the reasonable reach of 
water for stock. The cost of such work, however, is large and the 
supplies obtained vary widely in response to fluctuating rainfall, 
evaporation, and wastage through porous soils; attention has there- 
fore been directed to wells as a means of supplementing the present 
meager supplies. Wells have the distinct advantage of furnishing 
water at the point where needed; they permit the selection of sites 
for corrals, Indian homes, hospitals, schools, and farms, on the basis 
of quality of soil, nature of the grazing lands, supply of timber and 
fuel, or other factors besides nearness to water. At present white 
settlements are placed on a watercourse or at a spring and the Indian 
makes his home in similar localities. When forced to move by short- 
age of water or scarcity of forage, the Navajo relocates at another 
spring, thus passing his nomadic life in shifting from water hole to 
water hole. The result is that parts of the reservation are badly 
overgrazed and that food for sheep and horses is absent from the 
vicinity of springs and perennial watercourses. Some of the best 
grass lands on the reservation are little used, and the Indian is 
restricted in development by overcrowding in sections where water 
is ample. If the lands of the reservations are to be allotted to in- 
dividuals and families of the Hopi and Navajo tribes many small 
supplies of water must be provided, preferably one for each few sec- 
tions of land; supplies sufficient not only for several hundred sheep 
but also to irrigate a small garden. I see no way by which this stage 
of combined stock raising and agriculture can be attained by the 
Navajos without the digging of wells. Wells of large flow will prob- 
abl}^ always be the exception in this region and they are not essential 
to its development. Sheep consume 1^ gallons of water a day and 
horses about 10 gallons a day ; a well, therefore, yielding 2 gallons a 
minute will serve for 10 horses and 1,000 head of sheep and for the 
irrigation of a small tract, and still provide water for domestic use. 

In a few parts of the area the quality of well water is likely to be 
unsatisfactory, but as a rule the beds best adapted to yield water to 
wells are least liable to carry salts which render water unpalatable 
for man or beast. It should be borne in mind that we are dealing 
with arid conditions ; that a well yielding 5 gallons of water a minute 
is an " excellent well " ; that reliability rather than quantity is of 
fundamental importance; that the temperature of the water is a 
minor matter; that the presence of iron, sulphur, salt, alkali, unless 
in quantities dangerous to health, may be disregarded. All liquids 



160 THE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 

flowing as streams, or from springs, or held in pools, or pumped 
from wells, are water in a desert country ; and a man who applies the 
criteria of taste, odor, and appearance might die of thirst on the 
Navajo Eeservation. 

WELLS IN UNCONSOLIDATED SEDIMENTS. 
CHARACTER OF THE SEDIMENTS. 

Materials which have been deposited by streams, by wind, and by 
lakes, and which have not yet become converted into solid rock, may 
be grouped as " unconsolidated sediments " in contrast to sandstones, 
shales, and limestones, in which the constituent materials are com- 
pacted and held together by cement to form "bedrock" or "ledge." 
The composition and arrangement of layers of sand, gravel, clay, 
silt, and adobe, which make up the unconsolidated sediments may be 
examined on the floors of dry canyons, the banks of arroyos, the beds 
of ephemeral lakes, the flood plains of the washes, and in the sand 
dunes of wind-swept flats. Materials of this character partly fill 
the valleys and washes of the Navajo country to various depths. In 
the Little Colorado Valley the wells at Leupp show a depth to rock 
of over 60 feet; for the Oraibi Wash the figures are 60 to 80 feet; 
in the Puerco Valley a filling of 50 to TO feet has been found at 
several ]Dlaces; and a well at Gallup penetrates 175 feet of alluvial 
deposits before reaching bedrock. 

These unconsolidated sediments are capable of holding large 
amounts of water, which in many places may be recovered by wells. 
It should be borne in mind that not all parts of the great mass of 
unconsolidated materials can yield water, and that two wells within 
a few hundred feet of each other may give widely different results. 
These conditions may be understood when the process by which the 
sediments are deposited is examined: Streams flowing from the 
highlands toward a valley carry materials weathered from rocks. 
In the upper, swifter stretches of a stream materials of all sizes are 
hurried along, but when the stream emerges from its canyon and 
enters flatter lands the coarser part of its load is deposited first and 
the finer parts are carried farther out into the valley. Bowlders, or 
gravel and bowlders, or bowlders, gravel, and sand, therefore pre- 
dominate on the upper valley slopes, and sands and silts and adobe 
may cover the valley floor. If the streams feeding the valleys and 
washes were of uniform volume throughout the year a zone of 
coarse materials on the upper slopes and at heads of valleys would 
be followed downward by zones of increasingly finer materials, and 
the central section of the washes would be floored by layers of clay 
and silt and the finest sands. However, the streams of the reserva- 
tion fluctuate widely in volume; floods capable of carrying large 




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en 



WELLS. 161 

bowlders miles beyond a canyon mouth follow stages during which 
streams are able to transport fine sand only. The result is that over 
the entire floor of the wash fine sediments may be overlain by coarse 
gravels or beds of bowlders, and gravels may be buried by sands of 
various degrees of fineness. Moreover, the streams on alluvial slopes 
shift their position from time to time, even during the course of a 
single shower, and deposit their loads in a capricious manner. A 
vertical section through such deposits, as, for example, a well, shows 
therefore fine and coarse materials at various levels, and the order 
in which sands and gravels occur may differ widely in two adjoin- 
ing wells. A water-bearing horizon found in a drill hole at a depth 
of 30 feet may be at a higher or low^er level or be entirely absent in 
a well 1,000 feet distant. The irregularity of deposition is further 
increased by a redistribution of the fine sands under the action of 
the wind and by the deposition of finest silts and adobe on the floor 
of ephemeral lakes which dot the wide, flat-floored washes during 
the rainy season. (See PL XXVIII and fig. 18, p. 164.) 

The bedrock underlying unconsolidated deposits is in most places 
less pervious than the deposits themselves. These rocks therefore 
serve to hold the ground water at a more or less definite horizon and 
to prevent its escape downward. Local depressions in the rock floor 
are of particular value in this respect. Certain parts of the larger 
washes, as the Puerco between Manuelito and Gallup and the Pueblo 
Colorado betw^een Sunrise Springs and Twin Mesas, appear to be 
rock basins filled with sands and gravels, which in turn are saturated 
with water. Though many such depressions probably occur beneath 
the alluvium of the washes and to a greater or less extent in many 
canyons, their precise position can be determined only by systematic 
exploration with drills. 

LOCATION OF WELLS. 
WELLS ALONG THE AXES OF THE WASHES. 

Within the immediate flood plain of ephemeral streams or washes 
water is usually to be found at depths within 10 feet, and many 
shallow wells were noted, especially in localities where rock lies but 
a short distance below the bed of the dry stream courses. Some of 
these wells are protected by rock or brush and last for several years ; 
most of them are alternately destroyed and renewed with the passage 
of flood waters. At Bardgeman Wells, in Coyote Wash, water is 
obtained from two holes, each about 6 feet deep, sunk in the bed of 
the wash, and from a well on the immediate bank in which water 
stands 14 feet below the surface and 5 feet above bedrock. At 
Greasewood Springs (Navajo, Dowuzhibito), where the flood chan- 
33033°— wsp 380—16 11 



162 THE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 

nel of the Pueblo Colorado Wash attains a width of about a mile, 
there are several wells constructed by the Indians under the direc- 
tion of officials — wells that recover good water at depths of 4 to 8 
feet. In the course of our work a number of such shallow dug wells 
were used and many were constructed during the dry months of May, 
June, and parts of July. 

WELLS ON ALLUVIAL MESAS OR BENCH LANDS. 

Adjoining the main channels of the larger washes the surface of 
alluvial fill rises by steps or as a gradual slope and forms wide ex- 
panses of sand and gravels, in many places trenched by arroyos and 
coated with drifting sand. Parts of these extensive flats may be 
flooded in exceptional years, but under normal conditions they remain 
dry land, and where soil is suitable offer opportunities for irriga- 
tion. It is on these benches and lower valley slopes that wells in 
unconsolidated sediments can be most favorably located. 

At Holbrook the underflow of the Puerco and Little Colorado is 
recovered by wells sunk in the alluvial benches on which the village 
is situated. Water is struck at 10 to 20 feet below the surface, but 
well points are driven to depths of 20 to 35 feet, some of them 60 to 
100 feet, with the hope of obtaining the " second " or " third " water, 
which is usually of better quality. The water used by the Santa Fe 
Railway at Holbrook is obtained from a stone-lined well 65 feet 
deep and 30 feet in diameter, in which the water stands 14 feet below 
the surface. The well is pumped from 2 to 4 hours a day, and 
during the week ending June 27, 1909, the time of my visit, was 
supplying water at the rate of 52,800 gallons a day. The irregu- 
larity in distribution and in dimensions of the layers of sand, gravel, 
and silt constituting the alluvial fill of the Puerco and Little Colorado 
Valley is shown by the difference in material encountered in wells 
on adjoining lots, and by wide variations in salinity of waters from 
neighboring wells and also from various depths. 

At St. Joseph wells sunk 40 to 60 feet into alluvium obtain water 
from gravel lenses at depths of 16 feet and below. The supply for 
domestic use, for stock, and for irrigation at the Indian school at 
Leupp is also obtained from wells w^hich penetrate the alluvium of 
the Little Colorado Valley. The original battery of 10 driven wells 
reaching depths of 20 to 30 feet recovered about 80 gallons per 
minute. Five additional wells sunk in 1909 struck water at depths of 
10 to 20 feet, and three of them which were continued downward to 
bedrock with depths of 77, 80, and 90 feet, respectively, found water 
in each stratum of sand and gravel penetrated. A test of one of the 
wells showed a yield of 162 gallons a minute. Nine miles below 
Leupp, at Tolchico, on the upper flood plain of the Little Colorado, 
wells 14 feet deep recover large supplies of water. 



WELLS. 163 

In the Leroux and CottonAVOod washes ample supplies for cattle 
ranches are obtained from the alluvial fill at depths usually less than 
30 feet. At the Wallace, Donahue, and Hennessy ranch, near 
Adamana, driven Avells are used, and I am informed by Mr. Hen- 
nessy that the "first water," struck at about 17 feet, is in general 
alkaline ; that at 30 feet it is slightly salty, but at depths between 10 
and 50 feet pure water is obtained. In this area "salt wells," 
" alkali," and " fresh " wells occur at distances less than one-half mile 
apart. 

A well at the Tohachi Mission, sunk 15 feet into the gravels of 
the upper valley floor at the base of Chuska Mountain, contains 8 
feet of water even during the dry season. 

In Wide Ruin Wash the only unfailing supply of water between 
Tanner Spring and Wide Euin is obtained from a well dug in an 
alluvial terrace. This well is curbed with timber and reaches a 
depth of 37 feet, including 5 feet of water. Three wells in similar 
locations, and yielding satisfactory supplies, have been dug at Ga- 
nado to depths 11 to 20 feet. Water is also obtained in the Oraibi 
Wash at depths between 5 and 30 feet, in the Black Creek Valley at 
depths usually less than 10 feet. At the Cornfields School, below 
Ganado, it was found necessary to pass through 56 feet of sands and 
gravels before a stratum was discovered which yielded sufficient 
water to supply the local needs. 

Water from the highlands tributary to a wash is poured out over 
the long alluvial slopes and makes its way both on the surface and 
underground toward the axis of the main wash. Part of the amount 
remaining, after the run-off and evaporation have taken their toll, 
approaches the surface or actually emerges as springs or seeps on 
the flat central floor of the wash. Generally speaking, the depth to 
water increases as the alluvial slopes are ascended, for, as shown 
by Meinzer,^ although the water table slopes upward in the direc- 
tion of the mouths of contributory canyons, whence the principal 
supplies of water are derived, the surface of the ground also slopes 
upward, and usually at a more rapid rate. Water is, therefore^ 
likely to be found at the least depth near the main channels of a 
wash, and it seems desirable to select well sites on the borders of 
the wash above the reach of the highest floods. Chances for success 
are improved by the selection of a site near the junction of a tribu- 
tary wash with the main channel. 

WELLS IN HIGH VALLEYS. 

Unlike the deeply filled troughs of the large washes, many of 
the upper tributary valleys are thinly veneered with sediment, at 
the base of which, lying on bedrock, water may be found. 

1 Meinzer, O. E., U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 277, p. 36, 1911. 



164 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 



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At Douglass Camp, in Monument Val- 
ley, two wells, 10 and 12 feet deep, have 
rock bottoms covered 2J feet deep with 
Avater. The water used at Wide Euin is 
obtained from a well 15 feet in depth in 
which the water stands throughout the 
year at about 6 feet below the surface. It 
is near the head of a narrow canyon, whose 
floor is covered with sand and gravels, 
partly cemented. This w^ell was utilized 
some hundreds of years ago by the people 
who occupied the walled inclosure and 
fragmentary pueblos noAV known as Wide 
Ruin. No trace of a w^ell was found when 
the white man first visited these ruins, but 
excavation revealed one 16 feet square, 
walled with flat slabs of stone and with a 
flight of stone steps leading to the water. 
The well at the Navajo sawmill is dug in 
the alluvial fiii of a flat swale near the 
head of a rock- walled can} on. The water 
rests on the rock beneath the sands, at a 
depth of 11 feet. A well sunk in rock, 
near at hand, yields no water. 

The position of all the wells mentioned 
was determined by the presence of seepage 
at points farther down the valley. With- 
out the guidance of such seeps or of alkali 
flats, or at least moist ground, wells in 
high valleys can not be located Avith 
assurance of success. 









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WELLS IN THE TUSATAN WASHES. 



The Tusayan Washes include four large 
channels: Jadito, First Mesa (Polacca), 
Oraibi, and Dinnebito, in addition to nu- 
merous tributaries, all of Avhich combine 
to carry the run-off from the larger part 
of Black Mesa. Their drainage areas are : 
Jadito, 623 square miles; First Mesa, 672 
square miles; Oraibi, 652 square miles; 
Dinnebito, 812 square miles. The average 
rainfall over this area is probably less than 
that at Keams Canyon (10.94 inches), for, 



WELLS. 165 

although the precipitation on Black Mesa may be 12 or 13 inches 
a year, the lower portions of the washes probably receive less than 
8 inches. By assuming a mean annual precipitation of 9.5 inches we 
find that the water which falls within the drainage basins of the 
Tusayan Washes amounts to about 1,400,000 acre- feet a year. The 
Oraibi Wash alone collects each year 330,000 acre-feet, and First 
Mesa Wash 340,000 acre-feet. These washes are filled to depths 
of 10 to 90 feet with adobe, silt, and fine sand, with smaller amounts 
of coarse sand and gravel. The average porosity of these mate- 
rials is not far from 25 per cent. Moreover, though the gradient 
of the washes is about 25 feet to the mile, long stretches drop less 
than 10 feet in a mile, 8.nd other sections of their courses are so flat 
that lakes covering hundreds of acres are formed during flood 
seasons. It thus appears that opportunities for filling the ground- 
water reservoir are favorable. Springs are rare along these washes, 
and the conditions for construction of storage reservoirs are not 
good ; it was therefore decided to explore this area for underground 
water. Oraibi and First Mesa washes were selected for study and 
drilling was begun in 1910. During the two following years 29 
wells were sunk in localities chosen to give the largest amount of 
information regarding the conditions under which water occurs in 
alluvial fill. Logs of nine of these wells are given in figure 18. 

Five wells were sunk in the lower Oraibi Wash on a low-grade fan 
deposited by ephemeral streams. The materials of the fan were 
known to be fine and very irregularly distributed, but it was hoped 
that lenses of gravel were included, and that a water horizon would 
be encountered between the unconsolidated cover and bedrock. 
Neither of these expectations was realized. The silt was found to 
be excessively fine, " blow dust " of the drillers, and though saturated 
dust and moist sand were encountered no water was fed into the 
well. It would appear that the silt and adobe distributed as lenses 
was able to prevent both horizontal and vertical percolation. In 
fact, some of the material is so fine that it might be safely used in 
the construction of earth dams. The upper 28 feet of a drill hole, 
sunk by hand during June, 1909, gave the following typical section : 

Section of hancl-driUed hole, lower Oraibi Wash. 



Depth. 

Feet. 

Wind-blown sand 2 2 

Hard-packed adobe 6 8 

Fine red clay rendered soft by water . 

Very fine, hard-packed sand 3 12 

Coarse sand 1 13 

Adobe, white, dry 5 18 

Very fine sand, moist 4 22 

Clay and very fine sand, moist 6 28 




166 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

In all wells sunk moist sand was encountered between depths of 6 
to 30 feet, below which point the materials encountered were gen- 
erally dry and hard packed. 

In the upper Oraibi Wash a well 6 miles south of Oraibi and one at 
the Day School recovered 500 gallons an hour each, the largest flow 
coming from the bottom sands overlying bedrock. Two shallow 
wells near the base of the mesa at Bacobi were abandoned because 
the supply was insufficient to justify the installation of windmills. 

In the open floor of the First Mesa Wash five successful wells 
yield from 300 gallons an hour to " more than the pump could pull," 
obtained at depths exceeding 100 feet. Two other wells were aban- 
doned at 46 feet and 60 feet, respectively, on account of quicksand. 

Along the ujoper Wepo and upper First Mesa washes, where the al- 
luvial fill consists of coarser material, the five test wells encountered 
rock at depths between 80 and 102 feet. The largest amount of water 
was discovered between 57 and 85 feet. Five wells were sunk at 
Five Houses, all of them reaching rock at depths between 52 and 84 
feet. Four of these wells obtained water in quantities insufficient 
to encourage development; the fifth, less than a mile distant from 
the dry holes, discharged on a test run 350 gallons per hour. No 
better demonstration of the sporadic distribution of water-bearing 
beds need be desired. 

In Cienega Canyon, a tributary of Keams Canyon, nine wells were 
driven a short distance apart. The records at hand for six of the 
wells show that the water from five could not be developed " on 
account of fine sand," and that the sixth well, 80 feet deep, obtains 
400 gallons an hour of water from a bed of sand 60' feet below the 
surface. 

The results of drilling in the Tusayan Washes, combined with the 
knowledge obtained from the wells sunk in Leroux and Cottonwood 
washes, justify the expense of exploratory work in all the larger 
washes on the reservations where water is desired. Failures are, 
however, to be expected, and the most serious problem confronting 
the driller is the proper treatment of quicksand. If suitable strain- 
ers can be devised the number of "dry" wells may be greatly 
reduced. 

CONSTRUCTION OF WELLS. 
THE PROBLEMS. 

Among the problems confronting the well maker working in un- 
consolidated sediments of the Navajo country are the following: 

1. Excessively fine sand, "blow dust" in the driller's parlance, 
may be expected in all holes. This dust caves readily and when moist 
flows with ease. Though often found in saturated condition, its 
waters are held tight by capillarity. 



WELLS. 167 

2. " Quicksand " is an almost universal accompaniment of sands 
and gravels in washes. 

3. Water is contained in lenses of sand, gravel, and bowlders 
which are sporadically distributed both horizontally and in vertical 
section. 

4. Alkali water, salt water, and fresh water occur in " streaks " at 
various levels and at unknown distances apart. 

5. Except at school and agency sites, the well is to be used by the 
Navajo, Hopi, or Piute, people who know little about pulley wheels, 
who can not repair a pump or windmill, and to whom an engine is a 
mystery. 

6. Fuel for operating drills is practically absent from the large 
washes; water is scarce and supplies must be obtained from distant 
points. Wells therefore are expensive, but the need of water is so 
great that the cost need not be seriously considered. 

The following publications of the United States Geological Sur- 
vey^ should be read by those who are interested in the construction 
of wells in the Navajo country : 

Slichter, C. S., The California or " stovepipe " method of well construction : 
Water-Supply Paper 110, 1905; also Water-Supply Paper 140, 1905. 

Fuller, M. L., Underground waters for farm use: Water-Supply Paper 255, 
1910. 

Bowman, Isaiah, Well-drilling methods : Water-Supply Paper 257, 1911. 

The types of wells in unconsolidated deposits now in use on the 
reservations and which are recommended as adapted to the country 
are (1) dug wells, (2) driven wells, and (3) drilled wells. 

DUG WELLS. 

Dug wells 3 to 15 feet in depth, sunk along dry stream courses, 
are in use by both Indians and whites. Many of these wells are 

Well 

^P" Level of flood 




Figure 19. — Section of a wash showing location of 
shallow dug wells. 

not curbed or protected in any fashion, being merely holes sunk in 
the bed of the wash to secure water between rains. It is feasible 
to curb and protect such wells by brush or stone and to make them 

1 Water-Supply Papers 110, 140, and 255 may be obtained without cost by applying to 
the Director, United States Geological Survey, Washington ; the stock of Water-Supply 
Paper 257 available for free distribution has been exhausted, but the report is for sale 
(price 15 cents) by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C, to whom 
inquiries should be sent. 



168 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

permanent. It is better, however, to dig wells on a bank which the 
shifting current is not likely to remove and to sink them to the 
level of ground water in the adjoining wash (fig. 19). A rope and 
bucket with or without a pulley wheel is the best device for raising 
the water if the well is for the use of the natives. Shallow wells 
may be dug by an inexperienced Indian, and that wells exceeding 50 
feet in depth may be constructed by Indian labor with no other tools 
than pick and shovel, windlass, and bucket has been demonstrated 
by Mr. Tom Leaden at the Cornfields School. 

The chief obstacle to the rapid and economical construction of 
shallow open wells is the presence of quicksand, which is likely to 
be encountered at any depth. It is not to be expected that an Indian 
can overcome this difficulty; the supervision of a practical farmer 
or a superintendent with some knowledge of w^ell-drilling or mining 
is essential. There should be at hand water-tight wooden boxes, or, 
better yet, sections of iron tile or cement casing so flanged as to 
make water-tight joints. This protective box may be sunk as dig- 
ging proceeds, and may be used not only to prevent caving but also 
to shut off less desirable water where more than one water-bearing 
bed is found. It should be borne in mind that the pressure exerted 
by quicksand on well casing is very great ; that w^hen saturated with 
water the lateral pressure of sand is equal to about one-half of the 
vertical pressure, and that beyond the point of saturation the ver- 
tical and lateral pressure are equal. The casing should therefore 
be strong; it should also be water-tight, for saturated quicksand 
flows wherever water will flow, passing even through 100-mesh screens. 
The nature of quicksand and its method of treatment seem to be 
pretty well understood in this region, but material suitable for cas- 
ing is not always available. 

A well of large diameter is advised, especially in places where the 
material of the valley wash consists of adobe, quicksand, sand, and 
gravel, arranged in pockets or beds of irregTilar shapes, and where 
consequently it is impossible to predict the position of the precise 
bed which contains the largest amount and the best quality of water. 
Dimensions of 8 by 8 feet are recommended for shallow wells, but 
wells 10 by 20 feet will in most places justify the expense of con- 
struction. The mammoth dug wells, 30 feet or more in diameter, 
used by the Santa Fe Railway are good patterns to follow. 

A dug well of special type is in use at Cottonwood Tank, on the 
road between Tuba and Lee Ferrj^ The rock floor of a side can- 
yon entering the main wash at this point is coated with gravel to a 
depth of 5 to 6 feet. A subsurface dam across the narrow canj^on 
tends to accumulate water within the gravels. Back of the dam a 
well 6 feet deep has been sunk in the gravels, walled with stone, and 



WELLS. 



169 



provided with a concrete neck, which rises above flood waters. (See 
fig. 20.) It is believed that this method of construction is applicable 
to many other places. 

At Tohachi 3,000 gallons of water per day is obtained by a com- 
bination of well and tunnels. From the bottom of a well sunk on the 




Figure 20.- 



-Diagi'am illustrating method of constructing a well in the mouth of a rock 
canyon filled with coarse alluvium. 



bank of an arroyo a tunnel was driven beneath the wash, and the 
roof of the tunnel was shattered by charges of powder. The con- 
struction of this well was in charge of a skilled miner, Mr. Tom 
Leaden, who believes that additional tunnels at this point would 
increase the supply of water, and that this method may be success- 
fully applied at a number of other points on the reservation. (See 
fig. 21.) 




Figure 21. — Section illustrating method of obtaining water from the saturated rocks and 
unconsolidated deposits beneath a wash. 

On account of the unwholesome character of water obtainexl from 
wells in rock at the Chinle School the construction of a large well 
in the filling of the Chinle Wash at the mouth of Canyon de Chelly 
was advised. Test pits indicated a strong underflow and a fluctua- 
tion of the water table from a few inches below the surface to 5 feet 



170 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 



below in June, the driest month. Curbed wells connected by pipes 
were accordingly dug to a depth of 9 feet, where a layer of adobe was 




Figure 22. — Diagram sliowing method of recovering ground water from underflow in 

Chinle Wash. 

found. Additional water is collected by laterals leading into the 
sands of the wash, and the total water is made available by pumping 
and piping to the points where needed for irrigation. (See fig. 22.) 

DRIVEN WELLS. 



Water in unconsolidated deposits at depths within the suction 
limit — about 25 feet from the surface — may be cheaply obtained by 
driving into the ground pieces of iron pipe to which drive points and 
strainers have been attached. The pipe used may be of any desired 
length, as sections may be added as driving progresses. The pipe 
ordinarily used is 1 to 3 inches in diameter, but larger sizes are recom- 
mended for this region. The pipe may be driven with a maul or 
with a driver operated by machinery. If bowlders are encountered 
in driving the pipe, they must be removed by blasting or the well 
must be abandoned. In some parts of the United States the presence 
of bowlders is such a serious obstacle as to make this method of con- 
struction impracticable, but in the washes of the Navajo country 
large bowlders are rare, and, so far as my knowledge extends, no 
wells in the district have met with this difficulty. The screen or 
strainers used must be of such character as to permit water but not 
sand in appreciable amounts to enter. The particular type of screen 
used and its length depends on the character of material in which the 
water is contained. It has been found advisable in the Tusayan 
Washes and along the Little Colorado, where many wells of this type 
are to be found, to use a screen with a large number of small holes 
rather than a smaller number of large openings. The screen com- 
monly used on the cattle ranches along the Santa Fe Railway has 
GO to 80 perforations per square inch, but twice that number of open- 
ings is advised for the Little Colorado Valley. A long screen section 



WELLS. 171 

should be provided. At Plolbrook lengths of 6 to 8 feet are common, 
but screens 60 to 80 feet long are in use in other parts of the country.' 
In practice it is found advisable to drive two or more pipes near 
enough together to be connected and pumped as a single well; in 
this way pipes of smaller size may be used, and the clogging of the 
screen in one well will not destroy the supply. At Sharp ranch, 
north of Holbrook, two driven points at each of two wells are con- 
nected and pumped by a windmill. One of these wells tested 10 gal- 
lons per minute for a 60 -hour run. At this place the points are driven 
into the bottom of a dug well — a method applicable wherever the 
water table is more than 25 feet below surface. It should be noted 
that driven wells obtain surface water which is liable to be contam- 
inated by harmful substances that may lie on the ground near 
the well; the area immediately adjoining the well should be fenced, 
therefore, to exclude stock. It is advisable to test water at dif- 
ferent horizons by attaching hand pumps to the top of the pipe, for 
it is possible in wells of this type to exclude water of poor quality 
occurring at definite horizons. Driven wells are inexpensive; they 
require no special machinery for their construction. In the porous 
sands of the larger washes and on the flood plains of the Little 
Colorado and the San Juan, where the water table is near the surface, 
wells of this type are satisfactory. Their chief disadvantage lies in 
the fact that pipes of large diameter are sunk with difficulty. Where 
permanency of flow and a considerable volume of water are consid- 
erations of prime importance wells of other types are more likely to 
meet the requirements. 

DRILLED WELLS. 

The chief advantages possessed by drilled wells, compared with 
driven wells, are greater depth and larger diameter. Any one or all 
of the water-bearing beds found in unconsolidated deposits may be 
tapped by drilled wells, regardless of depth. Such wells may also 
be more readily protected from surface pollution. A portable rig 
is required — a rig equipped with percussion drill and capable of 
going to depths of 100 feet or more. Standard screw casing appears 
to be best adapted for use in wells of this region, but for large wells 
sunk to moderate depths " stovepipe " casing is recommended on the 
ground of economy. Wells of large diameter are advised for the 
Navajo Reservation — 6, 8, or 12 inch holes are preferable to those of 
smaller diameters. Such wells are more easily cleaned, and they 
afford opportunity for the insertion of a gravel screen where the 
water is encountered in fine sediments. The strainer should be long 

1 The various types of screens and methods of installation and cleaning are described by 
Isaiah Bowman (Well-drilling methods : U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 257, 1911). 



172 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 



and selected with reference to the nature of the water-bearing bed. 
In the wells at Leupp, ganze with 90 and 100 perforations per square 
inch is used, and the driller is of the opinion that much finer screens 
would give better results. 

Pumps driven by hand, by wind, by horsepower, or other means 
may be installed at the wells. Windmills are recommended, pro- 




FiGURE 23. — Homematle horsepower pump, 

vided they are placed in charge of an official. The Indians at present 
are incapable of repairing windmills or even hand pumps. The 
windmill selected for use in this country should be of simple design, 
easy to erect, and easy to move, and the gears should be either pro- 
tected or rephiceable at slight (^ost, for the life of gearing exposed 
to severe sand storms is short. Mr. H. F. Robinson, of the Indian 



WELLS. 173 

Office, has devised a pump which is to be driven by horsepower and 
which may be constructed without much expense from materials 
usually found lying about stores, ranches, and Government head- 
quarters. Such a pump, drawn from sketches by Mr. Robinson, is 
shown in figure 23. 

After a preliminary examination of the Hopi Reservation in 1909 
drills were set at work at Leupp and along the Tusayan Washes and 
28 wells have been sunk to depths of 20 to 118 feet. About half of 
them found no water or water held so tightly in fine sands that only 
minute quantities could be recovered. The other wells have been 
equipped with windmills and are proving serviceable.^ 

The difficulties encountered in drilling these wells were due chiefly 
to quicksand, which would have been equally troublesome to any 
other method of construction. 

WELLS IN BEDROCK. 

Bare rock lies at or near the surface over so large a part of the 
Navajo country that wells are desired in many places where ground- 
water storage reservoirs of sand and gravel are absent. Wells 3 to 
6 feet deep sunk at points where cracks and pores of the rock are 
known to contain water, present no uncertain elements. The Bida- 
hochi well, for instance, collects water circulating in sandstone 
within 5 feet of the surface and gives a small permanent supply 
where previously there was only a seep which yielded no water 
during the rainless months. At other points where fresh or alka- 
line seeps of fluctuating volume emerge from ledges a well in rock a 
short distance back of the seep may serve to recover water now lost 
by evaporation and to furnish a perennial supply. Such places 
were noted in the central part of Monument Valley, at Howell Mesa, 
and at several points on Black Mesa, the Chuska Mountains, and 
Button Plateau. Shallow wells in rock should be several feet in 
diameter and may be constructed by hand with pick and blasting 
powder. Where bedrock is covered with alluvial sediments the con- 
ditions for supplying water to the cracks and cavities in the ledge 
are favorable and wells sunk in unconsolidated sediments often may 
be improved in yield by continuing the drill for 5 to 10 feet into rock. 

In selecting well sites where w^ater is to be recovered from bed- 
rock the following facts should be kept in mind : 

1. The water in rocks occurs primarily in joints and cracks and 
bedding planes, and to a less degree in spaces between the grains 
and pebbles of which the rock is composed. Other things being 

iTo July 1, 1914, 140 wells had been drilled on the Navajo and Hopi reservations, 
including wells in unconsolidated deposits and in rock. Of these, 72 are reported satisfac- 
tory ; 68 are failures because of lack of water, quality of water, or presence of quicksand. 



174 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY, 

equal, the most fractured ledge contains the most water, and for this 
reason the capacity to hold water is greater along the Defiance 
monocline, along Comb Ridge, and about Navajo and Carrizo moun- 
tains than on Black Mesa and Moenkopi Plateau. As to type of 
rock, limestones hold water only in joints; sandstones carry water in 
pore spaces as well as in joints; shales contain little water in a form 
to be recovered. The well sunk 300 feet into Mancos shale at Oraibi 
yields no water, and the supply from a 165-foot Avell in shales of 
Moenkopi formation at Allentown is insignificant. 

2. A rock stratum may have the capacity for holding water and 
3^et be dry because its water is naturally drained away. The water 
which percolates into bedrock on the highlands may find its way to 
the face of a mesa, where it appears as a spring or a seep or is lost 
through evaporation. Elsewhere water may find its way under- 
ground to lower valleys, where it is buried beneath thick deposits 
of alluvial wash at depths too great for recovery. This is espe- 
cially likely to occur where sedimentary strata have a strong dip 
and where Avater moves along planes of stratification. In the San 
Juan oil fields, at Goodridge, sandstones on anticlines are dry, but 
the same strata yield water in the syncline; and at Cross Canyon, 
where a well was sunk 285 feet into porous sandstones and shales 
without finding water, the water appears to drain not only downward 
through cracks but also into sloping bedding planes and into near-by 
canyons. On the other hand, the Navajo sandstone and the Chuska 
sandstone are so porous and possess such irregularity of jointing 
and of secondary bedding that water may be found at unexpected 
places or be absent where conditions are apparently favorable. Also, 
the flat-lying sandstone of the Mesaverde formation of Chaco 
Plateau, composed of alternating strata of porous sandstone and of 
shale, and jointed at more or less regular intervals, has yielded 
water at almost every locality where wells have been drilled. The 
Dakota sandstone, likewise, has a good reputation as a water bearer. 

3. The quality of Avater from wells in rock varies with the type 
of rock and the conditions under which it was laid down. The 
wells sunk in the Moenkopi formation at Allentown and Adamana 
yielded poor water. Likewise the wells in shales of the Chinle for- 
mation at the Chinle School and farther up the Chinle Valley are 
alkaline to a harmful degree. On account of the liability to obtain 
water of unsatisfactory quality and also because of the small yields 
to be expected, wells are not advised in the Moenkopi formation, the 
Chinle formation, nor the Mancos shale. The Shinarump conglom- 
erate, the Wingate, the Navajo, the Dakota, the Mesaverde, and the 
Chuska formations offer better prospects. 

In order to determine the amount of available water in the various 
rock formations represented on the reservation, sites were suggested 



WELLS. 



175 



Chinle Valley, about 1 mile north of 

Ganado-Keams Canyon road 

Well No. 78 

^^ Hard adobe 



Red clay and sand 



for explorat,ory drilling. In pursuance of this plan five wells have 
been sunk in the Chinle formation of the upper Chinle Valley ; one 
in the same formation, in Sabito Canyon, a tributary to the Pueblo 
Colorado; one at the Cornfields; and one through the entire thick- 
ness of Cretaceous strata at Keams Canyon. Of the v^ells in rock of 
the Chinle formation one obtained 400 gallons per hour at the top 
of the first shale encountered, and the Cornfields well was discon- 
tinued after finding 190 gallons an hour in sands before bedrock 
was reached. Of the remaining five wells, one is dry and four 
yielded satisfactorily. As was to be expected, the water from strata 
of the Chinle was more or less alkaline, and for this reason the 
Sabito well has been abandoned and one of the other wells is suitable 
only for stock. It is to be hoped that 
the original plan of sinking these wells 
entirely through the Chinle formation 
to the Shinarump conglomerate may be 
carried out, for by so doing the prospect 
of obtaining supplies of excellent water 
Avould be improved. A log of one of 
the wells in Chinle Valley is shown in 
figure 24. 

The Keams Canyon well is located 
near the south edge of Black Mesa. A 
deep bore was advised at this place for 
tAvo reasons: First, because the condi- 
tions here are typical for the territory 
between Salahkai Mesa and Oraibi 
Butte, a distance of 100 miles, and 
therefore the results of this test well 
would serve as a guide to the location 
of other expensive wells; and second, 
the prospects were reasonably good for 
obtaining water from the Dakota sand- 
stone at a depth of approximately 1,000 feet. The reported results of 
the drilling are these : After passing through 1,070 feet of Mancos 
shale the drill penetrated 50 feet of brown and gray sandstone. The 
hole was continued to 1,288 feet through light-red and white ni^ind- 
stone, green and white shales^ and " chalk or limestone." In this sec- 
tion (fig. 25) the strata between 1,070 and 1,120 feet are believed to 
represent the Dakota, here, as in many other places, consisting of a 
fine-grained brown sandstone. A small flow issued from this rock 
and rose under artesian pressure to a point 200 feet below the sur- 
face. Because of the variable nature of the Dakota the Keams 
Canyon well does not furnish conclusive evidence that similar wells 



u 








50'- 


^S 




W'M-, 




^Tt^-y. : 




.,...,..,. 




~-^W; 


ino'^ 


~^.'~^' 








Tv7?.■Z^^ 




itis 








0^1^; 


150'- 


^g 



Red clay 



Red sandstone 



Brown sandstone (water) 



Limestone conglomerate 
Green and white shale 



Brown and green shale 

Brown sandstone 

Figure 24. — Section of well 
Cliinle Valley. 



176 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 



at First Mesa, Second Mesa, Oraibi, and intervening points will be un- 
successful ; it demonstrates that wells can not be sunk with assurance 
of obtaining large supplies of flowing water at the Dakota horizon. 

The sinking of wells in the rocks of the Navajo country presents 
no special . difficulties, and may be accomplished by any standard 



drilling method. 



ARTESIAN WELLS. 







500'- 











^Pi 




=_=-^:^.^^ 




E^r=El~ 




=-= 




^T^ ..--r. 








^s 








rnn 



Keams Canyon school 
Well No. 85 



Surface material (water) 



Shale 



ESSENTIAL. CONDITIONS. 

Water which rises above the level where struck in the well is said 
to be " artesian," whether it rises to the surface or remains at some 

level below the surface. The name 
" flowing well " is applied to a wellin 
which the water overflows in the form 
of a continuous stream. 

The arrangement of strata which 
favors the accumulation of artesian 
waters is as follows: (1) A porous 
stratum, part of which enters the 
ground with a dip sufficient to carry 
it beneath other strata; (2) an im- 
pervious stratum which lies above the 
porous stratum and which serves to 
prevent or retard the upward percola- 
tion of water; and (3) an impervious 
bed beneath the sloping, porous bed, 
and which tends to confine the waters 
within a certain zone. This under- 
lying bed is an advantageous but not 
an essential element. If the porous 
bed is not so placed at the surface as 
to receive a supply, no water may be 
stored even if the rock has a large 
w^ater-bearing capacity. Likewise if 
the overlying bed of impervious ma- 
terials is fractured, water may escape 
from confinement and rise to higher 
levels, thus releasing the pressure. 
The best unconsolidated materials for 
the confining bed are clay, adobe, or 
extremely fine sands; and the most 
desirable rock strata are shale and dense limestone. The porous 
water-bearing beds are usually sands and gravels, or, among rocks, 
sandstones and conglomerates. 

The conditions attending the occurrence of artesian water may be 
illustrated by sections of wells at St. Michaels and at Gallup, the 



Shale with fossils 

Shale 

Black shale 

Shale 
Shale 



Shale 

Black and red shale 

Shale 

Brown shale 

Brown sandstone (water) 

Light-gray sandstone 

Light-red sandstones and 

green-white shales 
Light-red sandstone 



Figure 25. — Section of wel 
rock at Keams Canyon. 



WELLS. 



177 



former in sands and clay, the latter in sandstones and shales (figs. 
26 and 27). On the Navajo Reservation the geologic structure is 
favorable for artesian water at several localities both in unconsoli- 
dated sediments and in bedrock. 

WELLS IN UNCONSOLIDATED DEPOSITS. 

Springs and seeps issuing from the lower margin of the long flat 
slopes which border the washes indicate the presence of water within 
the unconsolidated materials filling the valleys. In the sands of 
the upper slopes water stands at a higher level than at points along 
the valley axis and opportunity is afforded for absorption of rain- 



Silt and cla 



Well '^'owing 




Springs 



Figure 2G.— Diagram illustraling occurrence of artesian water at St. Michaels, Ariz. 



A.T.s s.r Ry. 




Figure 27. 



-Diagram illustrating occurrence of artesian water at Gallup, N. Mex. 



fall by the porous alluvium. If beds of impervious clay or adobe 
were regularly interstratified with layers of gravel and sand, condi- 
tions for flowing wells would be ideal. The water-bearing beds are, 
however, covered with strata which are not absolutely water-tight' 
and the ground water is therefore continually escaping. MoreoVer, 
the alluvial strata which together form the valley fill are not con- 
tinuous from the rim to the center of a valley, and the flow of ground 
water is consequently highly irregular both in volume and direc- 
tion. In the deep wells sunk in unconsolidated deposits of Oraibi 
and First Mesa washes water rises above the point where it is struck 
but does not overflow. It is entirely probable that flowing wells wiU 
from time to time be found as more holes are drilled, 
33033°— wsp 380—16 12 



178 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

WELLS IN BEDROCK. 

The storage of artesian water is facilitated by couplets of strata 
in which beds of shale overlie beds of porous sandstone. Given this 
stratigraphic arrangement, artesian water may enter and be retained 
in sedimentary rocks, provided the strata have suitable dip and 
the water-bearing bed is so exposed as to absorb the rainfall. In 
the Navajo country the Dakota sandstone and Mancos shale form a 
suitable couplet, and the number of springs issuing at this horizon 
demonstrates the presence of water confined in rocks beneath Black 
Mesa and Dutton and Chaco plateaus. The Shinarump conglomer- 
ate, together with the De Chelly sandstone contains water which is 
prevented from escaping upward by the shales of the Chinle forma- 
tion, and the alternating beds of shale and sandstone within the 
Mesaverde formation also furnish favorable conditions for artesian 
waters. Within the area of Carboniferous strata on San Juan 
River, the massive limestones act as the confining beds and retain 
the waters under pressure in the sandstones lying immediately un- 
derneath. 

FALLACIES REGARDING ARTESIAN WATERS. 

It is but natural that the presence of flowing wells in an arid 
region should give rise to various opinions regarding origin and 
method of flow. With the more fantastic views, for example that 
the deep-seated waters on the Kavajo Reservation are in some way 
connected with volcanic eruptions at San Francisco Mountain and 
Mount Taylor, and that the wells intercept an underground flow from 
the San Juan and the Colorado, we need have nothing to do. Certain 
other erroneous conceptions, however, have direct bearing on the 
plans for water develo]3ment and should be briefly considered. 

1. There is a prevalent belief that when water discovered in un- 
consolidated deposits rises in the well, a hole drilled into rock at the 
same place will produce a flowing well. In answer to this opinion 
it need merely be stated that the conditions determining the pres- 
ence of artesian water in sands and clays have no known relation to 
the conditions controlling the distribution of water in bedrock. 

2. That when artesian water is struck in a well more water with 
a stronger flow is to be found some distance below. It should be re- 
membered that artesian water occurs at fairly definite horizons and 
that after these horizons are passed water may not be found at all 
until the next horizon is penetrated. In some formations, for ex- 
ample the Mesaverde, there are several water horizons separated by 
50 to 200 feet ; in other formations, the horizons are many hundreds 
of feet apart. In certain situations no water is likely to be en- 
countered below a given stratum, regardless of the depth to which 
the weil is sunk. 



WELLS. 179 

3. That when artesian water is struck at a certain depth wells 
for miles about may obtain water at the same depth. The fallacy 
of this view is evident when it is recalled that strata may not be 
horizontal and that a water-bearing stratum encountered at 600 
feet may lie 1,000 or 2,000 feet below the surface in a neighboring 
township. 

4. That when it has once been demonstrated that water occurs in 
a sedimentary formation, that particular formation may be relied 
upon to yield water wherever encountered. In a limited sense and 
for an area of uniform arrangement of strata this opinion is well 
founded. Strata, however, are rarely continuous in structure, thick- 
ness, and composition for many miles, and in many formations not 
for many hundreds of feet. The Dakota sandstone is perhaps the 
most persistent water carrier in the Rocky Mountain and Plateau 
provinces, yet it is not everywhere present and even where present, it 
may not furnish water. At Gallup a strong flow was obtained, pre- 
sumably from this formation, but in the well at Keams Canyon only 
a slight trickle appeared. 

5. There is a widespread belief that water from a flowing well is 
inexhaustible. That this view is contrary to fact can not be too 
strongly expressed. The water comes from a resarvoir which though 
replenished from time to time may be exhausted. Disastrous ex- 
periences in artesian areas in California and elsewhere should in 
themselves be sufficient to induce the owners of flowing wells to allow 
no water to run to waste. The wells should be capped when not 
in use. 

ARTESIAN AREAS. 

Determining factors. — Flowing water has been obtained by a few 
wells in the Navajo country but so far not within the borders of 
the Navajo and Hopi reservations proper. Consequently the belief 
that certain areas afford conditions favorable for artesian water is 
based solely on a knowledge of the geologic structure of the region. 
Moreover, the geologic investigation was of a reconnaissance nature 
only. The composition of the sedimentary rocks has been deter- 
mined with a fair degree of accuracy, the thickness of the forma- 
tions has been determined for a few places, and the attitude of the 
strata has been roughly measured over a large part of the area. 
There remain, however, so many undetermined factors regarding 
geologic boundaries and details of structure, composition, and tex- 
ture, that the description of the various " artesian areas " is presented 
as suggestive rather than definitive. The sections designed to illus- 
trate artesian areas are necessarily generalized, for they are based 
on reconnaissance topographic maps on a scale of 4 miles to the inch, 
with contour intervals of 200 and 250 feet. It is believed, however, 



180 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

that the accompanying ilhistrative sections (PL XXIX) will serve 
a useful purpose in directing exploration for artesian water which, 
if discovered, will be of inestimable value to the Indian inhabitants 
whose lot has been cast in this neglected portion of the public domain. 

TJirper Chuska Valley {section A). — The collecting ground for 
the deep-seated waters in the upper end of Chuska Valley is the 
eastern and northern edge of Manuelito Plateau, the eastern slope 
of Black Creek Valley, and the southeastern base of Chuska Moun- 
tain. Water should be sought in the Mesaverde formation where 
alternating beds of shale and sandstone afford favorable conditions 
for zones saturated with artesian water. Wells in this formation 
should be sunk to depths between 600 and 1,200 feet. Deeper waters 
may occur in the Dakota sandstone at depths exceeding 1,100 feet. 

Button Plateau and southern Chaco Plateau {section B). — In 
the transverse valley forming the center of Dutton Plateau water 
may be recovered from the Dakota sandstone by wells sunk through 
the Mancos shale to depths of 200 to 800 feet. North of Crown 
Point Avells may procure water from the sandstone of the Mesaverde 
formation at depths of 200 to 800 feet. Since I began my work in 
this region several successful wells have been developed on this por- 
tion of the plateau, in all of which water is under artesian pressure, 
and one at least of the wells flows at the surface. Artesian water is 
likely to be found also in the Dakota sandstone at a depth of 1,600 
to 2,000 feet. The collecting area for waters in both the Dakota and 
the Mesaverde formations is Dutton Plateau and the highlands of 
north-central Xew Mexico. Sections of three wells in this area are 
shown in figure 28. 

Lower Chuska Valley {section C). — Waters falling on the eastern 
slopes of Carrizo Mountain percolate downward to some extent into 
the Dakota sandstone, the McElmo formation, and the La Plata 
group of sedimentary rocks. Wells sunk to the Dakota in the area 
between Red Wash and Hogback Mountain are likely to encounter 
artesian water at depths between 400 and 1,000 feet. There is also 
a prospect of obtaining flowing water from the I^a Plata sediments 
at a minimum depth of 1,000 feet. 

Upper Chinle Valley {section G). — The floor of the Upper Chinle 
Valley is carved in rocks of the Chinle formation, parts of which 
are known to contain water but not under artesian pressure. Be- 
neath the shales and limestones of the Chinle formation is the Shin- 
arump conglomerate, which on Defiance Plateau is suitably dis- 
played for the absorption of water. It is probable that wells sunk 
to depths of 500 feet in Beautiful Valley and 1,600 feet to 2,000 
feet in Chinle Valley will tap artesian supplies. 

Middle Chinle VaUey {section D). — The Shinarump conglomerate 
with the De Chelly sandstone is widely exposed on Defiance Plateau 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 




CHACO PLATI 



CARRIZO MTS 
Pastora Peak 




JE, SECTION ACROSS Ml 



BLACK MESA 





APPROXIMATE SO 
Horizontal 
? . ■ V , P 



^(J02_ 



Vertical 
5.0ib| 



SECTIONS SH( 








SECTIONS SHOWING CONDITIONS FAVORABLE FOR ARTESIAN WELLS. 



WELLS. 



181 



north of Canyon del Muerto. Where these strata pass beneath the 
Chinle formation it is probable that water is confined under artesian 
pressure, and may be recovered by bore holes 400 to 1,000 feet deep. 

Middle Tyende Valley {section E). — Back of Comb Eidge the 
De Chelly sandstone capped by Shinarump conglomerate is widely 



McKinley County Oil Co, well 

See. 18, T. 18 N.. R. 13 W. 

N.M.P.M. 

Well No. 92 



Pueblo Bonito school 
Sec. 30, T. 17 N., R. 12 W. 

N. M. P. M. 
Well No. 86 



5 miles NW.of Pueblo Bonito. 
Sec. 10, T. 17 N., R. 13 W. 
N. M. P. M. 
Well No. 93a 



500'- 



1.000' 



1,500' 



Alluvial earth 

White sandstone 
Hard shell 

Clay shale 



Gray sandstone , 

(first flow of water) 500 
Hard shell 
Hard gray sandstone 

Shale 

White sandstone (water) 
Blackjack and coal 
White sandstone 
Blue fire clay 
White sandstone 
(flow of water)" 
Hard shell 
White sandstone (water) 

Dark shale 



^ Blue shale 



Shale 

Gray sandstone 
Sandy shale 
Gray sandstone 
Shale 
^ White sandstone 
(water) 



1,000' 



Soil 
Coal 
Sandstone 

Drab clay 
Blue shale 
Sandstone 



Shale (water) 

Sandstone 

Brown shale 

Shale and sandstone 
-^Coal 

/ Blue and white shale 
Shale and sandstone 
\ Blue and black shale' 
::^Coal 

^Brown shale 
^Soft white sandstone 



Shale and sandstone 



500'- 



1.000' 



1.111' 



^ Hard shell 



Brown sandstone 
— Brown shale 
^Coal 
^Slate 

Sandstone (water) 



^;=^=^ Brown shale (water) 
Sandstone 



Hard gray sandstone 

White sandstone 
(water) 



1,205' 



Shale and sandstone 



Sandstone (water) 
Sandstone and shale 



Sandstone (water) 

Shale 

Sandstone 



Shale and sandstohe 

Sandy limestone 
Sandstone and shale 
Shale 



sc^-^ Hard brown shale 
Shale and clay 



1.540' 



Figure 28. — Well sections, Cliaco Plateau. 



displaj^ed on the southeastern limb of the Monument Valley anti- 
cline and trenched by numerous canyons. Water absorbed by these 
rocks is believed to pass southeastward and eastward beneath Tyende 
Valley. To reach these artesian waters wells 1,000 to 1,400 feet 
deep would need to be sunk. 



182 THE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 

Monument Y alley {section I). — Monument Valley is the stripped 
portion of an anticline on which are spread out sediments of Per- 
mian ( ? ) age. On the flanks of the anticline are tilted strata of the 
Shinarump and Chinle formations. Water occurs in the Moenkopi ; 
but unless a thick sandstone member of this formation is struck the 
quality of the water is likely to be unsatisfactory. The Shinarump 
conglomerate may probably be reached in upper Moonlight Valley 
by w^ells 300 to 600 feet deep. On the eastern limb of the anticline 
sandstones of the Goodridge formation are brought near enough to 
the surface to be within reach of wells. North of the San Juan 
several abandoned oil wells in the Goodridge beds have turned out 
to be flowing wells of oily water. 

Blach Mesa {section H). — The Cretaceous strata forming Black 
Mesa are arranged as a flat syncline, the axis of which dips south- 
ward from the northern margin of the mesa. The edges of the 
strata are abruptly terminated by the walled fronts of the projecting 
headlands on which the Hopi villages are set. Two water horizons 
are indicated by lines of springs, one between the Mesaverde and 
the Mancos formations, the other at the base of the Dakota sand- 
stone. Artesian water is likely to be struck in the Mesaverde over 
the less broken portions of the plateau at depths in rock of 400 to 
800 feet. The Dakota extends undern-eath Black Mesa but is thin 
and patchy, and in places wanting, and, moreover, has a small ex- 
posure on the front facing Tyende Valley. A test well sunk at 
Keams Canyon entirely through the Mancos shale found the Dakota 
represented by a thin bed of sandstone containing only minute 
quantities of water. This well is believed to demonstrate the unre- 
liability of the Dakota sandstone as a water carrier of prominence 
for the Tusayan area. (See p. 175.) 

Gothic Mesas {section F). — Six wells, sunk near together at Blu^ 
on the north bank of the San Juan, four of them 800 feet deep, the 
other two 1,085 and 1,165 feet deep, respectively, obtain flowing 
water at horizons probably the equivalent of the Wingate sandstone 
at depths of 800 feet and less. Small amounts were obtained from 
sandstones, probably in the Chinle formation, at greater depths 
(fig. 29). The conditions for the recovery of artesian water are un- 
usually favorable at this locality, as the porous sandstones of the La 
Plata group are widely exposed and the strata dip toward the San 
Juan area from three directions, thus constituting an underground 
basin. It is believed that equally favorable conditions exist south 
of the San Juan over the northwestern part of the Gothic Mesas 
province^ and that wells 1,000 to 1,600 feet deep may be expected to 
yield artesian water. 

Other areas. — On the Kaibito Plateau the conditions determining 
the positions of springs are also favorable for the occurrence of 



WELLS. 



183 



artesian water at depths between 400 and 800 feet. (See pp. 143-146 
and fig. 17.) A well at Gallnp, 1,241 feet deep, sunk to obtain water 
for the use of the Santa Fe Railway, obtained a flow of 4 gallons a 



500'- 



Lr weHs of this type One well of this type 




Red shale 

Brown sandstone 
Shale with 

lenses of 

sandstone 

Cross -bedded gray- 

white sandstone 

(water; 

Massive brown 

sandstone 

(water) 

500'- 

Cross-bedded 
white sandstone 

Cross-bedded 

white sandstone 
Shale 

White sandstone 
Conglomerate 

(water) 
Massive brown 

sandstone 

Brown sandstone 
(water) 


+-> 

(U 

£1 
+J 

C 

o 
(/) 

§ 

c 
o 

o 

(U 

(/) 

(A 
(D 
(U 

E 

CO 

en 








==£:^=e 




^^^ 




-"— - 


" 


■ 




^^ ' ^ 




-j;_ 












^oiSTo 




-- 








'949' 


1.000'- 


'M^: 


Fine brown 
sandstone 






Fine sandstone 




^M 


~~~-Fine sandstone (water)- 

Light-red 
shale 



Figure 



1,325' 
-Sections of flowing wells at Bluff, Utah. 



minute, and a 305-foot boring at Adamana yields salt water from 
Moenkopi beds at the rate of 25 gallons a minute. 



RECORDS OF WELLS. 



Records of wells sunk in the Navajo country are presented in the 
following table. The numbers correspond with those shown on the 
map (PI. I, in pocket). 



184 



THE NAVAJO COUNTRYc 















1 

1 








Small supply of poor' 
water. 

Supply insufficient. 


1 


i 

+ 

CO 


Cv 


c 


s 






























c 


c 


C 
-d 




If m 


s . 

If 


1 

5 


i 


1 


i 




1 


1 


J i 






fi5 


^g g 3 1 


g 




g 












6 
ft 


o o ^ ;t 


-H 

o>oo>oo o >oio»o 

s § § s ?s ^ ^s 1 




< 


> 


1^ 


c 


c 




1 


1 

'a 
c 


■ 1 

c 

pr. 


c 




c 








•t 


O 

1 ? 

11 ^ 


1 

o 

■ 121 


3 g ;^ 2 rA" s § &■ 


< 

1 

< 


iz 

c 

1 


■ 


O 

ll 
11 


ll.i 


c 


1 

pl 
C 
C 
c: 

C 


c 


c 


c 


c 


C 


c 


1 

1 


1 

i " 




6 


- 




■) o- 


. ^ 


c 




c^ 


f 


-^ 


>r 


cr 


g 


<2 


a- 







^ . 


1 


«g 


<3=l 


.3 


-S 


%^ 


te 


.9-=! 


s 


-^ 9 


t 

§ 











WELLS. 








s^ 




g 


b ^- 


M-r 




^ 


Seep. 169. 

Several flowing we 
Strongest flow 
depth of 800 feet. 

Three wells. 


a5 


III 
III 


sliable; d 
13. 

veils; 3 
wed at fir 




Water highly saline 
Slightly salty. 
Did not obtain a sa 
factory supply. 


1 

|i 


o3 
>> 




Usually r 
June, 19 

Several i 
them flc 


ft . 


CQ 


Ph IZi 



185 





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186 



THE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 






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188 



THE NAVAJO COUNTEY 






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Part IV. GEOGRAPHIC TERMS. 

The Navajo language possesses a number of sounds unfamiliar to 
the English ear, and for this reason the spelling of Navajo place 
names varies with different authors. Heretofore there has been no 
escape from this confusion, for no comprehensive study of this difficult 
language had been made. Recently, however, two scholarly works 
have been published by the Franciscan fathers — "An ethnologic 
dictionary of the Navajo language" (1910) and "A vocabulary of 
the Navajo language" (1912) — and the worker in this field is pro- 
vided with a better standard than his untrained ear. In the follow- 
ing table these volumes are treated as authoritative for all terms con- 
cerning which doubt has arisen. The Hopi language is better known, 
and the publications of the Bureau of American Ethnology furnish a 
reliable guide for both the spelling and the meaning of place names. 

Spanish and English terms offer few difficulties, although names 
in these languages have suffered mutilation to some extent. Some 
terms, for example. Canyon de Chelly, the product of erroneous 
translation, are too firmly fixed in the literature to justify recon- 
struction. 

In the subjoined table all names appearing on the geographic 
map have been listed except such as are well established both in 
spelling and in application and a few about which no satisfactory 
information could be obtained. 

189 



190 



THE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 



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191 






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THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 




GEOGEAPHIC TERMS. 



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196 



THE NAVAJO COUNTEY. 



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>^N N N N 



Part V. BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

WORKS EXAMINED. 

In connection with geographic and geologic studies in the Colo- 
rado Plateau province it has been found advisable to examine nearly 
500 books and pamphlets, including many unpublished reports filed 
in the Government archives. The list given below is believed to in- 
clude the most important publications relating to the geography and 
water resources of the Navajo country. In the first group are those 
works which have resulted from first-hand study; in the second are 
standard treatises based on a critical study of original material ; in 
the third group are titles selected from a long list of articles descrip- 
tive of adjoining regions similar to the Navajo Reservation, and also 
from publications which are helpful in visualizing the environment 
of the Indian. A list of the principal Spanish documents relating 
to this region is also given. Anthropologic works of a technical na- 
ture by Gushing, Dorsey, Fewkes, Hodge, Voth, and others have 
been omitted, as have also geologic reports that have little geographic 
significance. 

WORKS BASED ON FIRST-HAND STUDY. 

Arizona. Annual reports of the superintendents of the Navajo and Hopi 
Indian reservations to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. 

Contain general Information as to the condition of the Indians and their 
country. 

Bailey, Vernon, Life zones and crop zones of New Mexico: U. S. Dept. Agr. 
Bur. Biol. Survey North Am. Fauna No. 3.5, pp. 7-100, ills., map, 1913. 

Bandelier, a. F., Final report of investigations among the Indians of the south- 
western United States, carried on mainly in the years from 1880 to 1885: 
Archeol. Inst. America Papers, series 3, pts. 1 and 2, pp. 305, 325, 1890- 
1892. 

Bartlett, John Russell, Personal narrative of explorations and incidents in 
Texas, New Mexico, California, Sonora, and Chihuahua, 1850-1853. 
2 vols., map and ills., 1854. 

Mr. Bartlett was the United States boundary commissioner during these ex- 
plorations, and the hook forms a journal of his observations on soil, water supply, 
Indians, animals, vegetation, topography, and climate. Volume 2 contains a dis- 
cussion of the introduction of camels as a means of transportation on our 
western prairies and deserts, 

Beadle, J. H., The undeveloped West, or five years in the Territories. Cincin- 
nati, 1873. 

Western wilds and the men who redeem them. Map, ills. Cincinnati, 

1878. 

These volumes, the result of seven years' travel by a correspondent for the 
Cincinnati Commercial, are two of the most interesting hooks of travel in print. 

199 



200 THE KAVAJO COUNTEY. 

Bell, W. A., New tracks in North America ; a journal of travel and adventure 
while engaged in surveying for a southern railroad to the Pacific Ocean 
during 1867-68. 2 vols., Ixv, 236 pp., 1869. Illustrated by lithographs, 
woodcuts, and botanical plates. 

Describes the physical geographj'^ of the Colorado basin ; New Mexico and 
Arizona as the Spaniards found them. 

Btckford, F. T., Prehistoric cave dwellings : Century Mag., vol. 18, pp. 896-911, 
1890. 

Containsi notes on forests, water supply, and other features of Canyon de 
Chelly, Bonito, Del Arroyo, and other canyons. 

BoTJRKE, J. G., The. snake dance of the Moquis of Arizona; being a narrative of 
a journey from Santa Fe, N. Mex., to the villages of the Moqui Indians 
of Arizona, with a description of the manners and customs of this 
peculiar people, and especially of the revolting religious rite, the snake 
dance ; to which is added a brief dissertation upon serpent worship in 
general, with an account of the tablet dance of the Pueblo of Santo 
Domingo, N. Mex. London, 1884. 

Capt. Bourke was for several months aide-de-camp to Maj. Gen. Crook, 
selected by Lieut. Gen. Sheridan to make examination of Indians of the South- 
west. The narrative is a well-written, well-illustrated, accurate, and interesting 
account, based on first-hand information. Route described from Port Defiance to 
Keams Canyon and Hopi villages ; thence to Sunset Crossing at Winslow. 

Brandegee, T. S., Tlie flora of southwestern Colorado: U. S. Geol. and Geog. 
Survey Terr. Bull., vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 227-248, 1876. 

Brevoort, Elias, New Mexico, her natural resources and attractions, being a 
collection of facts, mainly concerning her geography, climate, population, 
schools, mines, and minerals, agricultural and pastoral capacities, pro- 
spective railroads, public lands, and Spanish and Mexican land grants. 
176 pp., Santa Fe, 1874. 

The author was for 24 years a land-grant agent in the Territory, and the 
chapter on this business contains much information. His descriptions of climate, 
water supply, topography, and natural resources are very detailed and fairly accu- 
rate, in spite of his evident desire to urge settlement within the Territory. 

Bbown, W. C, Suplee, E. M., and Gurovits, Odon, Message from the Presi- 
dent of the United States transmitting certain reports upon the condi- 
tions of the Navajo Indian country : 52d Cong., 2d sess., S. Doc. 68, 1893. 
Fifty pages with general map and 16 sketches of proposed Irrigation works. 
Discusses water supply, possibilities of irrigation, and related subjects. 

Chapin, Frederick H., The land of the cliff dwellers. 188 pp., maps, illustra- 
tions from photographs by the author, 1892. 

A semipopular work on the San Juan region, which the author explored, dis- 
covering some canyons and ruins previously unknown. Infrequent notes on soil 
fertility, water supply, and rainfall. 

Chittenden, George B., Topographical report on the San Juan district: U. S. 
Geol. and Geog. Survey Terr. Ninth Ann. Kept, for 1875, pp. 351-368, 

1877. 

Contains notes on topography, crops, stock, vegetation, climate, roads or trails, 
drainage systems, and stream courses. 

Cozzens, S. W., The marvelous country; three years in Arizona and New 
Mexico. Boston, 1874. 

A breezy description of Arizona life and Indians. 

Cummings, Byron, The ancient inhabitants of the San Juan Valley: Utah 

Univ. Bull., vol. 3, No. 3, p. 2, 1904. 
The great natural bridges of Utah : Utah Univ. Bull., vol. 3, No. 3, pt. 1. 



BIBLIOGEAPHY. 201 

CuETis, Edwaed S., The North American Indian : Being a series of volumes 
picturing and describing the Indians of the United States and Alaska. 
Foreword by T. Roosevelt; field research conducted under patronage of 
J. Pierpont Morgan. Written, illustrated, and published by Edward S. 
Curtis, of Seattle, Wash. Edited by F. W. Hodge. 20 vols. 

In volume 1 the Indians of Arizona and New Mexico and their conditions of. 
life are described. Particularly valuable for its excellent full-page illustrations. 

Gushing, F. H., New adventures in Zuni: Century Mag., vol. 3, pp. 195-207, 
500-511, 1882-83. 

Popular description of Indian pueblo life. Mentions fact that women at Zuni 
had to raise sand dams in order to make river sufllciently deep to wash garments. 

Daeton, N. H., a reconnaissance of parts of northwestern New Mexico and 
northern Arizona: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 435, 88 pp., 17 pis., colored 
map in pocket. 1910. 

Describes geology along the Santa Fe Railway and contains brief statements 
regarding geography and underground waters. 

Dellenbatjgh, F. S., A canyon voyage. Ills. New York and London, 1908. 

Contains the story of Powell's second expedition in 1871—72 and describes this 
remarkable journey in detail. Also briefly describes Navajos. 

DoMENEcii, Abbe Em., Seven years' residence in the great deserts of North 
America. 2 vols., ills., map. London, 1860. 

A comprehensive study of the early people of America and their climatic 
environment, early explorations by the white race, physiography of country, with 
especial attention to the deserts west of ^he Mississippi, canyons, rivers, petrified 
forests, and Indian villages. 

Donaldson, Thomas, Moqui pueblo Indians of Arizona: Extra Census Bull., 
Eleventh Census, 1893. 

Contains map and stereogram of Hopi country. Discusses exploration and 
present environment. One of the best sources. 

DoESEY, Geoege a., Indians of the Southwest. 1903. 

One of the guidebook series prepared for the Santa Fe Railway, which con- 
tains considerable interesting material and admirably fulfills its purpose. 

Button, Maj. C. E., Mount Taylor and the Zuni Plateau: U. S. Geol. Survey, 
. Sixth Ann. Rept., pp. 111-198, ills., 1885. 

Accurate and clearly expressed observations and conclusions regarding the 
physical character of the southeastern part of the Navajo country. 

Fewkes, J. W., Preliminary report on a visit to the Navajo National Monu- 
ment, Ariz. : Bur. Am. Ethnology Bull. 50, 1911. 

Contains useful geographic information regarding region along the route from 
Flagstafie to Marsh Pass. 

Feanciscan Fathees, St. Michaels, Aeizona, An ethnologic dictionary of the 

Navajo language. 1910. 
" — Vocabulary of the Navajo language, vol. 1, English-Navajo ; vol. 2, 

Nava jo-English. 1912. 

These three volumes contain a large amount of geographic material and are 
the must authoritative publications relating to the Navajo thus far issued. 

■ The San Franciscan missions of the Southwest, pp. 4-58, 1913. 

A brief history of the work of the Franciscan order in the Southwest, includ- 
ing a summary of early exploration by the Spaniards. 

GaeciSs, Feancisco, On the trail of a Spanish pioneer ; the diary of Francisco 
Garc^s, 1768-1776 ; edited by Elliott Coues. 2 vols., 1900. 

Contains notes on vegetation, topographic features, rivers, water supply, and 
Indian customs. An exceedingly interesting account of wanderings to and fro 
over a then unknown country. 



202 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

Gilbert, G. K., and others (including E. E. Howell), Report on the geology 
of portions of New Mexico and Arizona examined in 1873 : U. S. Geol. 
Surveys W. 100th Mer. Kept., vol. 3, pp. 503-567, 1875. 

Chiefly geologic. Howell traversed the Navajo country from Lee Ferry through 
Oraibi to Fort Defiance. 

.Heap, G. H., Central route to the Pacific from the valley of the Mississippi to 
California : Journal of the expedition of E. F. Beale, Superintendent of 
Indian Affairs in California, and G. H, Heap, from Missouri to Califor- 
nia, in 1853. 136 pp., 13 pis. Philadelphia, 1854. 

Holmes, W. H., Geological report on the San Juan district: U. S. Geol. and 
Geog. Survey Terr. Ninth Ann. Rept. (for 1875), pp. 237-275, with maps 
and diagrams, 1877. 

Includes an account of the exploration of Carrizo Mountain. 

Hough, Walter, Pueblo environment : Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci. Proc, Fifty-fifth 
meeting, held at New Orleans, 1905-6, pp. 447-454, 1906. 

Contains valuable and interesting discussion of the influence of climatic and 
topographic environment on the life and institutions of the pueblo Indian. 

Hough, Walter, Environmental interrelations in Arizona : Am. Anthropologist, 
vol. 11, pp. 133-155, 1898. 

A study of the adaptation of plants to geographic conditions. 

Hughes, John T., Doniphan's expedition ; containing an account of the con- 
quest of New Mexico ; Gen. Kearney's overland expedition to California ; 
Doniphan's campaign against the Navajos, his unparalleled march upon 
Chihuahua and Durango; and the operations of Gen. Price at Santa 
Fe, with a sketch of the life of Col. Doniphan. 407 pp., ills., map. Cin- 
cinnati, 1848. 

Written by a hero maker but contains first-hand descriptions of scenery of 
the southeastern portion of the Navajo country, and also notes on customs and 
manner of life of the Indians. 

Ives, J. C, Report upon the Colorado River of the West, explored in 1857 and 
1858; 36th Cong., 1st sess., S. Doc, 1861. Pt. 1, General report; pt. 2, 
Hydrographic report ; pt. 3, Geological report by J. S. Newberry ; pt. 4, 
Botany, by Professors Gray, Torrey, Thurber, and Dr. Engelmann ; pt. 5, 
Zoology, by S. F. Baird. 

The route followed begins at the mouth of the Colorado, crosses the San 
Francisco Plateau, the Little Colorado, and the Hopi country to Fort Defiance. 
Volume contains an account of the first scientific work undertaken within the 
Hopi Reservation. It has high value. 

Jackson, W. H., Report on ancient ruins examined in 1875 and 1877 : U. S. 
Geol. and Geog. Survey Terr. Tenth Ann. Report (for 1876), pp. 411- 
450, with maps and diagrams, 1878. 

Describes, with special reference to ruins, the San Juan Valley in the vicinity 
of Bluff, the lower Chinle, De Chelly, and Chaco valleys, and the Hopi Mesas. 

Letherman, J., Sketch of Navajo tribe of Indians: Smithsonian Inst. Tenth 
Ann. Rept., pp. 283-297, 1856. 

Deals with geography of region inhabited by Navajos, and discusses their 
customs and industries. 

Loew, Oscar, Report upon mineralogical, agricultural, and chemical conditions 
observed in portions of Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona in 1873 : 
U. S. Geog. Surveys W. 100th Mer. Rept., vol. 3, pp. 573-661, 1875. 

Macomb, Capt. J. N. See Newberry, J. S. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 203 

Matthews, Washington, Navajo names for plants : Am. Naturalist, vol. 20, 
pp. 767-840, 1886. 

Author has made a special study of the Navajo. His papers, chiefly anthro- 
pologic but containing also geographic material, have been published by the 
Bureau of American Ethnology, the American Anthropologist, the American Mu- 
seum of Natural History, and elsewhere. 

MiNDELEFF, CosMos, The Cliff ruins of the Canyon de Chelly : Bur. Am. Eth- 
nology Sixteenth Ann. Rept. (for 1894-95), pp. 73-198, p. pis., 83 figs., 
1897. 

Contains map of ancient pueblo region. Discusses history, geography, and 
physical surroundings of various pueblo villages. 

MuNK, Joseph A,, Arizona sketches. 1905. 

Briefly discusses climate and desert vegetation. 
Newbeeky, J. S., Geological report, chaps. 1-6, in Report of the exploring ex- 
pedition from Santa Fe, N. Mex., to the junction of the Grand and 
Green rivers of the Great Colorado of the West in 1859 ; under the com- 
mand of Capt. J. N. Macomb, pp. 15-152, ills., 1876. 

Discusses geography and conditions along San Juan and Colorado rivers. 

PoGUE, Joseph E., The great Rainbow Natural Bridge of southern Utah: Nat. 
Geog. Mag., vol. 22, No. 11, pp. 1048-1056, 1911. 

Pbudden, T. Mitchell, The prehistoric ruins of the San Juan watershed in 
Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico: Am. Anthropologist, new 
ser., vol. 5, pp. 224-288, map, ills., 1903. 

The great American plateau. New York, G. P. Putnam & Sons, 1907. 

Relates chiefly to the Indians of the country and their physical environment. 
A well-written, semipopular account by one familiar with the San Juan Valley. 

Rtjffner, E. H., Annual report upon explorations and surveys in the depart- 
ment of the Missouri, being Appendix SS of the annual report of the 
Chief of Engineers for 1878. 118 pp., maps, sketches, ills. Washington, 
1878. 

Describes the San Juan country, its rivers, altitude, surface character, climate, 
floods, soil fertility, agriculture, opportunities for grazing and irrigation. Much 
excellent material. 

Simpson, J. H., Report of an expedition into the Navajo country: 31st Cong., 
1st sess., S. Ex. Doc. 64, pp. 56-159, 1850. 

A most accurate and detailed account, full of geographic material. Simpson's 
route led across Chuska Valley and the Chuska Mountains to Canyon de Chelly, 
thence to Zuni via Fort Defiance. This book ranks first among the reports of 
early explorations in the Navajo country. 

SiTGKEAVEs, Capt. L., Report of an expedition down the Zuni and Colorado 
rivers: 32d Cong., 2d sess., S. Ex, Doc. 59, 190 pp., ills., maps. 1853. 
Rgprint 33d Cong., 1st sess. 

In addition to Capt. Sitgreaves's diary,, pp. 4-24, the volume contains reports 
on natural history, with detailed descriptions of plants, mammals, and birds, by 
Dr. S, W. Woodhouse and collaborators, a map, and remarkably good cuts of 
plants, animals, and some of the physical features of the region. 

Stephen, Alexander M., The Navajo: Am. Anthropologist, vol. 6, pp. 345-362, 
1893. 

Author has published relatively little, but his large store of information has 
been freely used by other workers in the field, and data collected by him have 
found place in numerous anthropologic reports. 

United States Geological Suevey, Water-Supply Papers 133, 1905 ; 176, 1906 ; 
211, 1908; 249, 1910; 269, 1911; 289, 1912. 

Records of measurements of San Juan and Little Colorado rivers. 



204 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

Wheelee, Geokge M., Geographical report : U. S. Geog. Surveys W. 100th Mer., 
vol. 1, Appendix F, pp. 481-745, 1889. 

A valuable study of voyages, explorations, and surveys west of the Mississippi 
from 1500 to 1880. 

Whipple, A. W., Report of explorations for a railway route near the thirty- 
fif til parallel of latitude, from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean : 
37th Cong., 2d sess.. House Doc. 129, vol. 4, 154 pp., ills., Washington, 
1853-54. 

The route near the thirty-fifth parallel was reported on by "Whipple, that near 
the thirty-eighth parallel by Beckwith, and that near the thirty-seconxi parallel 
by Emory. This series of reports is one of the most comprehensive and valuable 
dealing with this region, and has served as a foundation for later exploration and 
study. 

WORKS BASED ON STUDY OF ORIGINAL MATERIAL. 

Arizona, Clason's industrial map of Arizona ; mineral features by 0. F. Tolman, 
jr., 1908. Clason Map Co., Denver, Colo. 

Map is on scale 1 : 770,000, and printed in 7 colors. Shows roads, trails, Irri- 
gated lands, mineral regions, and other details. Is the most reliable map of the 
State. 

Bailey, L. H., Encyclopaedia of agriculture, vol. 4, chap. 2, pp. 34-35. 

Agriculture of southwestern Indians, including the Hopi and other tribes. 

Bancroft, George, History of the United States, vol. 1, The Spaniards in the 
United States. 1876; revised edition, 1883. 
Describes early explorations. 

Bancroft, H. H., Arizona and New Mexico : Works, vol. 17. 

A comprehensive history and study of the Pueblos and other Indians, native and 
white industries, agriculture, early trade and traders, native and introduced 
products, stock raising, boundaries and areas of. counties and towns. Contains 
comprehensive bibliography including privately printed works and manuscripts 
inaccessible to most readers. 

Bandelier, A. F., The gilded man, and other sketches. New York, D. Appleton 
& Co., 1893. 

Essays on the Southwest, embracing a discussion of the mythical " Seven 
Cities " and of Coronado's wanderings. 

The discovery of New Mexico by Fray Marcos de Niza: Mag. Western 

History, vol. 4, pp. 659-670, 1886. 

Blackmar, Frank S., Spanish institutions of the Southwest: Johns Hopkins 
Univ. Hist. Studies, vol. 8, pp. 121-193, 1891. 

Spanish occupation of Arizona and New Mexico. A study of the mission system 
of colonization and its results. Deals chiefly with Mexico and California. 

CoMAN, Katherine, Ecouomic beginnings of the far West ; vol. 1, Explorers and 
colonizers; vol. 2, American settlers; pp. 418, 450, ills. New York, 
Macmillan Co., 1912. 

Discusses primitive irrigation and agriculture, and the Indian's use of his 
water supplies. Both volumes contain good bibliographies. 

Hodge, F. W., editor, Spanish explorers in the southern United States, 1528- 
1543, pp. 275-387, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1907. The narra- 
tive of the expedition of Coronado, by Pedro Castaneda de Nagera. 

Mr. Hodge uses here Buckingham Smith's translation of Castaneda's narrative. 
Book contains same material as Winship's " Journey of Coronado." 

Handbook of American Indians: Bur. Am. Ethnology Bull. 30, 2 vols., 

ills., 1912. 

An encyclopedia of Indian history, names, customs, and places. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. ^ 205 

Lewton, F. L., The cotton of the Hopi Indians : Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 60, 
No. 6, 1912. 

Lipps, OscAE H., The Navajos. 136 pp., 18 ills. Cedar Rapids, 1909. 

Contains a brief account of general geographic features of the Navajo country, 
LowEEY, WooDBUKY, The Spanish settlements within the present limits of the 
United States, 1513-1561. 515 pp., 2 ills., 2 maps. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 
1901. 

Discusses topographic features, rivers, rainfall, forests and other vegetation, 
and animal life. 

Plummek, F. Gr., Lightning in relation to forest fires: U. S. Forest Service 
Bull. Ill, pp. 1-39, 1912. 

Simpson, J. H., Seatch for the seven cities of Cibola (by Coronado) and discus- 
sion of their probable location: Smithsonian Inst. Ann. Rept., pp. 309- 
340, map, 1871. 

Particularly valuable as a clear history of this early exploration of the country ; 
makes numerous references to older records and maps. Map gives the route in 
considerable detail. 

WiNSHip, G. P., The journey of Coronado, the first explorer of the West. Map. 
A. S. Barnes, Philadelphia, 1904. Published also in Bur. Am. Ethnology 
Fourteenth Ann. Kept., pt. 1, pp. 329-613, pis. 38-84, 1896. 

The best work on the Coronado expeditions, using Spanish narratives and 
making a careful attempt to correlate the names of the places with present place 
names. 

ARTICLES ON ADJOINING REGIONS. 

CoYNEE, David H., The lost trappers. 1858. 

A semipopular account of early traders and the fur trade. Describes water 
supply, mountains, vegetation, and other features. Gives an account of Work- 
man and Spencer's trip down the Colorado on a raft or boat which they made 
on its banks, supposing themselves to be on the Rio Grande headed toward 
Santa Fe. 

Daeton, N. H., The Southwest; its splendid natural resources, agricultural 
wealth, and scenic beauty : Nat. Geog. Mag., vol. 21, pp. 631-665, 1910. 

Describes geography and geology of New Mexico, Arizona, and southern 
California. 

Davis, W. H. H., The Spanish conquest of New Mexico. 1869. 
A popular history of exploration and conquest. 

Dellenbaugh, F. S., The true route of Ooronado's march : Am. Geog. Soc. Bull., 

December, 1897, pp. 399-431. 
freaking the wilderness. 360 pp., numerous ills. 1905. 

General descriptions of exploration and conquest and of Indian life ; interest- 
ing ; not critical. 

Dunn, J. P., jr.. Massacres of the mountains ; a history of the Indian wars of 
the far West. 784 pp., illus., map of Indian reservations of the United 
States. 1886. 

Includes a brief description of the Navajo country, its vegetation, climate, soil, 
and crops. 

Fountain, Paul, The eleven eaglets of the West. 1905. 

Chapters VII-XI contain notes on the animal and bird inhabitants of Colo- 
rado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada, and are of interest to young people. 

The great forests and deserts of North America. 

A popular work of considerable interest to young people. 



206 THE NAVAJO COUNTRY. 

FowLEE, Jacob, The journal of ; narrating an adventure from Arkansas through 
the Indian Territory, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico to 
the sources of the Rio Grande del Norte, in 1821-22. Edited, with notes, 
by Elliott Coues. 174 pp. New York, F. P. Harper, 1898. 

Fowler was a trapper and reached in his journey the San Juan Mountains, 
probably being the first white American to approach the sources of the Rio del 
Norte. The account is printed exactly as written by Fowler, with quaint capitali- 
zation and frontiersman speech, making an unusual volume. He describes trees 
and other vegetation, water supply, animals, clouds, temperature, winds, and 
gives the latitude of each camp or topographic feature that he notes. 

Fynn, a. J., The American Indian as a product of environment. Boston, 1907. 

Contains comments on physical conditions of Indian country as indicated by 
Indian habits of life, religion, and industries ; also brief notes on atmosphere, vege- 
tation, animal life, storms, petrified forests, springs and streams, and soil. 

Geegg, Josiah, Commerce of the prairies. 2 vols. 1844. 

The journal of a Santa Fe trader, which is very interesting ; contains a careful, 
unexaggerated description of the Santa Fe trade and its environment. 

Geey, Zane, The heritage of the desert. 1910. 

Riders of the purple sage. 1912. 

• The Rainbow Trail. 1915. 

Fiction ; give a clear impression of the conditions of life in the arid Southwest ; 
scenic descriptions of the Colorado and San Juan valleys are particularly vivid. 

Hall, Feank, History of Colorado, vol. 1, 1889 ; vol. 2, 1890. 

Contains a - comprehensive account of the history, geography, and ethnology of 
the State ; discusses early Spanish explorations, ancient reservoirs and irrigation 
works, and the attractions of the San Juan region. 

Hamilton, Pateick, The resources of Arizona. 414 pp., map, and ills., 3d ed. 

1884. 

Intended as a guide and information book regarding climate, minerals, farming, 
grazing, timberlands, and other resources. 

HiGGiNs, C. A., To California and back. 
To California over the Santa Fe Trail. 

These little volumes were issued by the Santa Fe Railway passenger department 
as guidebooks to the region crossed by that system. Good illustrations and inter- 
esting text furnish fundamental information for the traveler in the Southwest who 
does not expect to depart from the beaten path. 

HiNTON, RicHAED J., The handbook to Arizona. Map, ills. New York, American 

News Co., 1878. 

A guidebook to the Southwest, discussing history, topography, geology, agricul- 
ture, climate, animal life, Spanish explorers, and Indians. 

HoENADAY, W. T., Camp fires on desert and lava. Ills., maps. 1908. 

A popular description of the southern Arizona desert, with particular reference 
to its vegetation and animal life. 

James, Geoege Whaeton, Indians of the Painted Desert region. Boston, Little, 
Brown & Co., 1903. 

Ladd, Hoeatio O., The story of New Mexico. Ills. 

A semipopular history of the beginnings of civilization in New Mexico and its 
colonization by the white people ; describes the life and customs of the Indians and 
the present geographical conditions. A chapter is devoted to the consideration ot 
irrigation. 

Laut, Agnes C, Through our unknown Southwest. 1913. 

Describes national forests, petrified forests, the Grand Canyon, and the pueblo 
of Taos. Contains some excellent illustrations. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 207 

Leibeeg, J. B., RixoN, T. F., and Dodwell, Arthue, Forest conditions in the 
San Francisco Mountains Forest Reserve, Ariz. : U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. 
Paper 22, 95 pp., 7 pis., map, 1904. 

Deals with soil, drainage, tree species, opportunities for grazing, and commercial 
and agricultural value of lands. 

LuMMis, Chaeles F., Some strange corners of our country. Ills. 1892. 
Popular description of canyon and desert. 

Maecy, R. B., Border reminiscences, 396 pp., ills., pis. New York, Harper & 
Bros., 1872. 

A popular book based on Marcy's exploration in New Mexico. Discusses possi- 
bilities of irrigation and agriculture, and concludes that aridity and sterility make 
the region unfit for permanent habitation. 

MoEGAN, L. H., in W. W. Beach's " Indian miscellany," 200-202 pp. Albany, 
J. Munsell, 1877. 

Describes pueblo system of irrigation and introduction of agriculture into the 
San Juan region. 

New Mexico Bueeau of Immigeation, New Mexico resources — climate, geogra- 
phy, and geological conditions. Edited by Max Frost. 1890. 

A guidebook for prospective settlers ; deals with the general geographic features 
of the State, its water supply, irrigation, possibilities of agricultural development, 
and stock raising. 

Pattie, James O., Personal narrative of James O. Pattie, of Kentucky, during an 
expedition from St. Louis through the vast region between the plains and 
the Pacific Ocean, and then back through the City of iviexico to Vera Cruz. 
Edited by Timothy Flint, 1833. Edited with notes by Reuben Gold 
Thwaites, 1905. 

Gives an idea of early trade and travel across the wilderness ; chief value is for 
local color of Pattie's time. 

Petees, DeWitt C, Life and adventures of Kit Carson, with notes on Indians. 
Hartford, 1875. 

Describes the water supply of early pueblos and Mexican towns. A popular 
story of a popular hero, apparently intended to amuse the casual reader. 

Powell, J. W., U. S. Geol. Survey Eleventh Ann. Rept., pt. 2, Irrigation, pp. 215- 
231, 305-308, 1891. 

A general description of the arid Southwest and its climatic conditions, with 
some details of the work done in New Mexico in developing irrigation. 

--^ Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and its tributaries ex- 
plored in 1869, 1870, 1871, and 1872, under the direction of the Secre- 
tary of the Interior. 291 pp., ills. Washington, 1875. 

Contains the history of exploration of this river, with a description of the 
physical features of the country and its fauna. 

Peince, L. B5ADF0ED, Historical sketches of New Mexico from the earliest 
records to the American occupation. Kansas City and New York, 1883. 
Contains an interesting discussion of early exploration. Mr. Prince was 
Governor of New Mexico. 

ScHooLCEAFT, Heney R., History of Indians of the United States. 6 vols., 1854. 
Contains short articles by students of Indian life and describes the sur- 
roundings and life of the Navajos and Hopis. A discussion of early Spanish ex- 
plorations is accompanied by a map of Coronado's route (1540). 

Squiee, E. G., New Mexico and California : Review, vol. 8,. pp. 503-528, 1848. 

Contains abstract of early Spanish explorations and notes on surface water 
and agriculture ; quotes liberally from Emery, Abert, Gregg, and others who 
previously visited the country. 



208 THE NAVAJO COUNTEY„ 

Stevenson, James, Ancient habitations of the Southwest: Am. Geog. Soc. 
Bull. 4, 1886. 

Contains general account of explorations at Canyon de Chelly and elsewhere. 
Party included J. K. Killers, photographer, whose views have been widely re- 
produced. 

Thayee, William M., Marvels of the new West. Ills. 1888. 

Popular account of the most striking physical features of the Southwest, with 
some excellent illustrations. 

ToDD, John, The Sunset land. 1869. 

Popular account of sights and incidents in the great western country. 
Whiting, Lilian, The land of enchantment. Ills. 1906. 

Popular account of New Mexico, Arizona, and the Grand Canyon, as a vaca- 
tion wandering place. 

WiLBY, T. W. and A. A., On the trail to Sunset. 1912. 

Fiction. Contains some excellent descriptions of the desert and mountains, 
including a sandstorm. 

Winsoe, Justin, Critical history of North America, vol. 2, pp. 573 et seq., 1886. 
Early explorations of New Mexico, followed by a critical essay on the sources 
of information by Henry W. Haynes. Contains practically the same material as 
Winship's " Journey of Coronado." 

PRINCrPAIj SPANISH SOURCES. 

Oastaneda de Nagera, Pedro de, Relation du voyage de Cibola enterpris en 
1540 (oil Ton traite de toutes les peuplades qui habitent cette contree, 
de leurs moeurs et coutumes). 

A French translation of Castaneda's narrative, in Ternaux-Compans, Henri, 
Voyages, relations et memoires originaux pour servir a I'histoire de la d^couverte 
de I'Am^rique, vol. 9, Paris, 1838. This is the most complete account of Coronado's 
expedition. The Spanish original is not known to be in existence. 

GARcifes, Francisco TomAs Hermenegildo, Diario y derrotero que sigui6 el 
M. Fra. Garces, en su viaje hecho desde octubre de 1775 hasta 17 de 
setiembre de 1776. In Documentos para la historia de Mexico, 2d ser., 
vol. 1, pp. 225-374, Mexico, F. Escalante & Co., 1854. 

Marcos de Niza, Relacion del descubrimiento de las siete ciudades. In Pacheco 
and Cardenas, Coleccion de documentos, vol. 3. 

Pacheco, J. F., and CArdenas y Espejo, Francisco de, Coleccion de documentos 
ineditos relatives al descubrimiento, conquista y colonizacion de las 
antiguas posesiones espanolas de America y Oceania, sacados de los 
archivos del reino, y muy especialmente del de Indias. Competentemeote 
autorizada. 42 vols., Madrid, 1864-1884. 

Smith, Buckingham, Colecci6n de varios documentos para la historia de la 
Florida, vol. 1, 1857. 



INDEX. 



A. Page. 

Access, routes of 13 

Acknowledgments of those aiding 10—11 

Adamana, Ariz., wells near 163, 

174,183,185 

Administration, centers of 13 

Agathla, Ariz., description of 48 

spring near 138,157 

view of 48 

Agriculture, duty of water in 129 

factors in 103 

irrigation for. See Irrigation. 

progress of 77 

Agua Sal Creek, Ariz., description of 35, 

91,94 
Alamo Spring, Ariz., description of_ 152 
Alcove Canyon, Ariz., description 

of ^ 31 

Allantown, Ariz., wells at 174,184-185 

Al Ranch Sp'i'ing, Ariz., description 

of 158 

Aneth, Utah, farmer stations at 32 

precipitation at 50, 58, 62, 96 

temperature at 65-67, 97 

Animals, wild, character of 74—75 

Antelope Spring, Ariz., description 

of 155 

Arido Creek, Utah, description of_ 91, 94 

Artesian wells, essentials for 176-179 

Artesian water, areas of 132,179-183 

areas of, sections showing 180 

fallacies concerning 178-179 

nature of 131-132 

Awatobi Springs, Ariz., description 

of 134,154 

B. 

Bacobi, Ariz., wells near 166, 187 

Bailey, Vernon, on Chuska Mountains 27 
Bardgeman Wash, Ariz., wells in_ 161, 187 

Beale, E. P., explorations by 20 

Beautiful Mountain, Ariz., springs 

on 1_ 151 

Beautiful Valley Wash, Ariz., de- 
scription of 91, 94 

spring near 152 

•Bedrock, springs from 137-143 

springs from, improvement of 141-142 
improvement of, figure 

showing 141 

surface of, springs from 136-137 

springs from, improvement 

of 136-137 

wells in 173-176, 178 

Beelzebub, N. Mex., spring near 150 

33033 °~wsp 380—16 14 



Page. 

Bekihatso Lake, Ariz., location of_ 118, 119 
well near 185 

Bench lands, wells on 162-163 

Bennett Peak, N. Mex., nature of 25 

springs near 150 

view of 26 

Bermuda Island, W. I., water 

catches on 122 

Bibliography 199-208 

Bidahochi Spring, Ariz., description 

of 153 

Bidahochi well, Ariz., description of_ 173 

Big Spring, Ariz., description of 153 

Biltabito Creek, N. Mex., descrip- 
tion of 92, 94 

Biltabito Spring, N. Mex., description 

of 149 

Bitsihuitsos Butte, Ariz., springs 

near 152-153 

Bitter Spring, Ariz., description of_ 158 

Black Creek, Ariz., description of_ 28-29, 

83, 88-89, 93 

discharge of ._ 88 

springs on 151 

views on 33 

Black Creek Valley, Ariz., N. Mex., 

description of 32-34 

irrigation in 109 

precipitation in 95 

springs in 136, 148, 151 

streams of 33, 101 

views in 33 

wells in 163, 185 

Black Falls, Ariz., irrigation 

project at 107 

irrigation project at, map of_ 106 

Blackhorse Creek, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 25,94 

Black Mesa, Ariz., artesian water on_ 182 

coal on 75 

description of 40^41 

farming on 42 

precipitation on 60, 95 

section of, figure showing 180 

soil on 98 

springs on 138, 148, 154-156 

vegetation on 40, 41, 72 

water supply of 92 

wells on 187-188 

Blue Canyon, Ariz., springs near_ 155, 156 

Blufe, Utah, irrigation at 105 

view at 32 

wells at 182 

sections showing 183 

Boiling Spring, Ariz., description of_ 157 

209 



210 



INDEX. 



Page. 
Bonito Creek, Ariz., description of— 89, 93 

ii-rigation from 106 

silt from 108 

springs near 151 

Box Springs, Ariz., description of_ 139, 158 
Bridge, natural. See Rainbow 
Bridge ; Owl Bridge. 

Bridge Creek, Utah, description of 87, 94 

view of 46 

Buell Park, Ariz., description of 112 

peridots at 75 

storage in 112 

stream from 33, 89, 112 

view of 111 

Buell Park Spring, Ariz., desci'ip- 

tion of .- 151 

Burro Spring, Ariz., description of_ 142, 

154 
spring near 154 

C. 

Cactus, range of 72, 73 

Camps, location of 12, 102 

Canella Spring, Ariz., description of_ 155 
Canyon de Chelly Creek, Ariz., de- 
scription of 35, 36, 90, 94 

name of 35,189 

ruins in 35 

springs in 151 

views in 36 

Canyon del Muerto, Creek, Ariz., de- 
scription of 35, 90, 94 

ruins in 35 

Capillary water, nature of 127-128 

Cardenas, G. L. de, explorations by_ 16-17 
Carrlzo Mountains, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 30 

precipitation on 95, 96 

springs on and near 148, 149, 158 

storage on 113 

vegetation on 99 

view of 30 

water supply on 92 

Carson Mesa, Ariz., spring on 142 

Castaneda de Nagera, Pedro de, 

history hy 16 

Cedar, zone of, view in 69 

Cedar Spring, Utah, description of — 157 

Cedar Springs, Ariz., nature of 140, 153 

springs near 154 

Chaco Plateau, N. Mex., artesian 

water on 180 

description of 24 

lakes on 118, 119 

mineral resources of 24 

sections of, figures showing 180 

springs on 148, 149 

wells oa 184 

depth to water in 130, 184 

sections showing 181 

Chaco River, N. Mex., spring on 150 

Cha Creek, Utah, flow of 87 

Chaistla, Ariz., spring near 152 

Chambers, Ariz., well at 185 

Chambers Wash, Ariz., description of_ 35 



Page. 

Chandlar ranch, Ariz., springs at 136, 

137, 153 

view at 37 

Chaves, N. Mex., well at 184 

Chezhindeza Mesa, Ariz., springs 

near 158 

Chezhindeza Valley, Ariz., springs in_ 150 
Chevelon Fork, Ariz., soil on, anal- 
ysis of 70 

Chief Spring (Black Mesa), Ariz., 

description of 154 

Chief Spring (Segi Mesas), Ariz., 

description of 157 

Chilchinbito Spring, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 155 

springs near 155, 156 

Chinle, Ariz., agency at 36, 37 

precipitation at 56, 59-63, 95 

springs near 151, 152 

temperature at 65-67, 97 

wells at 185 

Chinle and Pueblo Colorado Valleys, 

Ariz., description of_* 36-37 

drainage of 89-91, 93 

lakes in 118 

precipitation on 95 

soil of 70 

springs of 148, 152-153 

temperature in 97 

springs from 139 

wells in 174-175, 182 

section showing 175 

water holes in 119 

wells in 152-153 

depth to water in___ 130, 152-153 

Chinle formation, character of 79 

correlation of 79 

deposition of 83 

Chinle Creek, Ariz.-Utah, descrip- 
tion of_ 36-37, 89-90, 94, 101 

irrigation from 106 

valley of, artesian water in 180—181 

sections of, figures showing- 180 

water wasted in 104-105 

wells on 169-170, 175, 185-186 

figures showing 170, 175 

Chuska Mountains, Ariz.-N. Mex., de- 
scription of 28-30 

forests on 74 

lakes in 116-117, 118 

nomenclature of 27 

precipitation on 60 

soil on 98 

springs of 140-141, 148, 150-151 

figure showing 141 

vegetation on 28-30, 73, 74, 99 

view in 27 

water supply on 28-29, 30 

water wasted on 105 

well on 185 

Chuska Peak, N. Mex., springs near_ 150 

Chuska sandstone, character of 80 

porosity of 126 

springs from 138 

water in 174 



INDEX. 



211 



Page. 
Chuska Valley, N. Mex., artesian 

water in 180 

description of 24-26 

section of, figure showing 180 

soils of 70 

springs in 134, 148, 149-150 

streams of 25, 91-92, 101 

view in 26 

well in 184 

Cibola, N. Mex., ancient, character 

of 16 

Cienega Amarilla, Ariz., springs of__ 133 

Cienega Canyon, Ariz., wells in 164, 

166, 187 

Cisterns, water catches for 120-122 

water catches for, figures show- 
ing^ 120, 121, 122 

Cliff houses, views of 36, 47 

Climate, nature of 49—68 

Coal, occurrence of 26, 75, 70, 81 

Coal Mine Canyon, view of 40 

Colorado River, description of 85, 94 

precipitation on . 95 

Comar Springs, Ariz., nature of 137, 153 

spring near 153 

Comb monocline, Ariz.-Utah, de- 
scription of 48 

view of _ 47 

Copper Creek, Utah, description of 87, 94 

Corn, antiquity of . 73 

Corn Creek, Ariz., description of 39, 94 

Cornfields, Ariz., springs near 151 

wells at and near 163, 186 

Coronado, F. V. de, explorations by_ 16 

Cotton, cultivation of 73 

Cottonwood, range of 72, 73 

Cottonwood Spring, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 153 

spring near 153 

Cottonwood Spring, N. Mex., descrip- 
tion of 140, 149 

Cottonwood Tank, Ariz., well near_ 168- 

169, 188 
Cottonwood Wash, Ariz., description 

of 94 

wells in 163 

Coyote Springs (Hopi Buttes), Ariz., 

description of— 136-137, 153 
Coyote Springs (Ttisayan Washes), 

Ariz., description of 154 

Coyote Wash, Ariz., description of 39, 94 

wells in 161 

Cretaceous rocks, deposition of 83 

occurrence and character of 80 

Cross Canyon, Ariz., springs near 151 

wells at 174, 185 

Crossing of the Fathers, Ariz., diffi- 
culty of 17 

Crown Point, N. Mex., administra- 
tive center at 24 

wells near . 184 



D. 



Dadasoa Springs, N. Mex., descrip- 
tion of 



150 



Page, 

Dakota sandstone, character of 80 

deposition of — . 83 

porosity of 126 

springs from 138 

water in 174-176, 179,180, 182 

Dams, construction of 114—116 

De Chelly, derivation of 35 

De Chelly Canyon. See Canyon de 
Chelly. 

De Chelly sandstone, character of 79 

De Chelly uplift, Ariz., character of- 81 

Defiance Mesas, Ariz., spring at 150 

Defiance monocline, Ariz., character 

of 81 

view of 33 

Defiance Plateau, Ariz., description 

of : 34-36 

drainage of 34-35 

forests on 74 

precipitation on 60, 95 

sections of, figures showing 180 

springs on 148, 151—152 

storage on 113 

vegetation on 35,72-74,99 

view of 100 

views on 68,100 

wells on 185 

Desert, coloring of 22 

Desert Creek, Utah, description of — 31, 94 

Desha Creek, Utah, flow of 87 

spring on 157 

Deza Peak, N. Mex., spring near 150 

Dike Spring, N. Mex., description of_ 149 
Dinnebito Spring, Ariz., description 

of 154 

springs near 154 

Dinnebito Wash, Ariz., description 

of 39,94,164 

water holes in 119 

Domerech, Abbe, history by 17—18 

Doniphan, A. W., explorations by 18 

Douglas Camp, Utah, wells at 164, 188 

Dove Spring, Ariz., description of 157 

Drainage, description of 22 

Drilled wells, construction of 171-173 

Driven wells, construction of 170-171 

Dry Lake, Ariz., well near 185 

Dug wells, construction of 167-170 

figures showing 167, 169, 170 

Dunes. See Sand dunes. 

Dutton, C. E., explorations by 20 

on Navajo Mountain 45 

plateau named for 23 

Dutton Plateau, N. Mex., artesian 

water on 180 

description of 23-24 

drainage of 23 

lakes on 118 

precipitation on 95 

section of, figure showing 180 

soil on 98 

springs on 148, 149 

storage on . 113 

vegetation on 99 

wells on 184 

Duty of water, data on 127 



212 



INDEX, 



E. 



Page. 



Eagle Crag, opening near 155 

Echo Cliffs, Ariz., springs at 144, 

146-147, 156 
Echo monocline, Ariz., character of_ 81 

Egloffstein Butte, Ariz., spring near_ 153 

Emery, W. B., work of 10-11 

Endischee Spring, Ariz., description 

of 157 

Evaporation, effect of, on ground 

water 123-124, 128-129 

effect of, on stream flow 97-98 

statistics of 97-98 



Farming, dry, success of 71 

Farmington, N. Mex., San Juan 

River at, discharge of_ 85 

Faulting, occurrence of 81 

springs from '. 143, 144 

Fault Spring, Utah, description of_ 157 

Fauna, character of 74-75 

Figueredo Creek, N. Mex., descrip- 
tion of 91 

First Mesa, Ariz., springs at and 

near 155 

well on 187 

First Mesa Wash, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 39, 94, 164 

wells in 164, 166, 177, 186, 187 

section of, figure showing 164 

Five Houses, Ariz., wells at and 

near 186,188 

Flagstaff, Ariz., temperature at 98 

Floods, percolation from 127 

Flora, distribution and character of_ 71—74 
Fluted Rock, Ariz., springs at and 

near 134,151-152 

Folding, description of 81-82 

Fontaneda, H. d'E., explorations by_ 17 

Fords Peak, N. Mex., opening near_ 150 

Forests, distribution of 74, 99 

distribution of, map showing 74 

Fort Defiance, Ariz., history of 33 

irrigation at 106 

precipitation at 50, 51, 59-62, 95 

temperature at 64-67,97 

springs near 151 

wells near 185 

French Spring, Ariz., description of_ 153 

springs near 153 

Frosts, occurrence of 65, 67 

Fruitland, N. Mex., irrigation from_ 105 

location of 32 

precipitation at __ 50, 57, 59, 60-62, 96 
temperature at 65-67, 97 



Gallup, N. Mex., artesian water at_ 176-177 
artesian water at, figure show- 
ing 177 

filling at 160 

spring near 149 

wells at-— 176-177, 179, 183 



Page. 

Ganado, Ariz., irrigation at 89, 110-111 

location of 110 

springs near 151, 152 

wells at 163,186 

Ganado reservoir, description of_ 110-111, 

119 

map of 110 

Garces, Francisco, explorations by 17 

Garces Mesa, description of 38, 39 

Garnet Ridge, Ariz.-Utah, garnets 

on 87,75 

Garnets, occurrence of 37, 75 

Geographic terms, glossary of 189-197 

Geographic provinces, description of_ 23-49 

segregation of .22 

Geography, description of 13-84 

Geologic history, outline of 82-84 

Geology, columnar section 6t 78 

map showing In pocket 

outline of 77-84 

reports on 78 

Giants Chair, Ariz., springs near 154 

Goat Spring, description of 155 

Goodridge, Utah, oil at 32 

view near 31 

wells at 174 

Goodridge formation, occurrence of_ 78 

water in 182 

Gothic Mesas, Utah, artesian water 

on 182 

description of 31 

precipitation on 95 

soil of . 98 

springs on 148, 157-158 

wells on 185 

Gothic Wash, Utah, description of 94 

identity of 31, 90 

Grand Canyon, discovery of 17 

Grand Falls, Ariz., origin of 43 

spring near 158 

view of 41 

Greasewood Spring, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 150 

Greasewood Springs, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 152,161 

wells near 186 

Ground, evaporation from 128-129 

Ground-water reservoir, capacity 

of 125-126 

depletion of 127 

nature of 124 

figure showing 124 

supply to 123-124,126-127 

surface of. See Water table. 

Guam, N. Mex., well at 184 

Gutches, G. A., map by 74 

Gypsum Creek, Ariz.-Utah, descrip- 
tion of 48, 87, 94 

springs of 139 

H. 

Hamblin, Jacob, colonization by 42 

Hano, Ariz., springs near 155 

Hasbidito Spring, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 152 

spring near 150 



INDEX. 



213 



Page. 

Heald, K. C, work of 11 

Historical geology, outline of 82-84 

History, outline of 15-21 

Hite, Utah, precipitation at 50, 59 

60-62, 95 

temperature at 65-67, 97 

Hogansaani Spring, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 158 

Hogback Mountain, N. Mex,, spring 

near 150 

Holiwassbahan Spring, Ariz., de- 
scription of 157 

Holbrook, Ariz., evaporation at 98 

Little Colorado River at, dis- 
charge of 86, 102 

location of 86 

precipitation at— 50, 53, 59-62, 95, 96 

temperature at 64-67, 97-98 

wells at 162, 171, 186, 188 

wind at 68 

Holmes, W. H., mapping by 20 

Honani Spring, Ariz., description of_ 154 
Hopi Buttes, Ariz., description of — 37-38 

map of 140 

precipitation on 95 

springs at_ 134, 138-139, 148, 153-154 

figures showing 139 

temperature at 97 

volcanic necks on, view of 37 

Hopis, character of 11, 76, 139 

irrigation by 104 

language of 189 

number of 76, 103 

villages of 41 

evaporation at 128 

soils from 70-71 

analyses of 70 

view of 76 

Horses, feed for 12 

use of 12,13 

Hotevila, Ariz., springs at and near_ 155 

Houck, Ariz., irrigation at 109 

Howell, E. E., geologic exploration 

by 20,39 

Howell Mesa, Ariz., springs near 156 

Hunter Point, Ariz., springs at and 

near 136,151 



Indian Affairs office, request of, for 

investigation 9 

Indians, attitude of 10-11 

irrigation by 103-105 

Indian Wells, Ariz., springs at and 

near 137,140,153,154 

storage near 112 

wells at 186 

Investigation, history and scope of_ 9-10 
Irrigation, diversion, attempts at_ 105-107 

undeveloped projects for 106-107 

Irrigation, flood, antiquity of 103-104 

methods of 104-105 

Irrigation, storage, conditions for_ 107-109 

projects for 109-113 

Ives, J. C, explorations by 19 

on topography 22 



J* Page. 

Jadito, Ariz., springs at and near — 154 
-Tadito Wash, Ariz., description of — 39, 

94, 164 

springs in and near 155, 156 

.JanUs Spring, Ariz., nature of 138, 158 

Jesus Lake, N. Mex., spring near 149 

Jewett,, N. Mex., spring near 150 

Junction Creek, Utah, flow of 87 

spring on 143, 157 

Jurassic rocks, occurence and char- 
acter of 79-80 

K. 

Kaibab limestone, character of 78 

Kaibito Plateau, Ariz., artesian 

water on 183 

description of 41-42 

precipitation on 95, 145-146 

section of, figure showing 146 

springs on 148, 156-157 

views of 40 

Kariz, construction of 135 

figure showing 135 

Keams Canyon, agency at 41 

precipitation at 50, 52, 59-62 

springs at and near 138, 154, 156 

temperature at 64-67 

water in 39 

wells in 164, 166, 

175, 179, 182, 187-188 

section of 175, 176 

wind at 68 

Keepers, G. A., aid of 147 

Keet Seel, Ariz., clifC houses at, 

character of 48 

cliff houses at, view of 47 

spring at 157 

Klethla Valley, Ariz., flow in 94 

Kydestea Spring, Ariz., description 

of 155 



Laguna Canyon, Ariz., description 

of 48 

ruins in 48 

view of 47 

spring in 157 

trenching in, view of 101 

Lakes, distribution and character 

of 116-118 

utilization of 118-119 

La Plata group, character of 79 

deposition of 83 

porosity of 125-126 

springs from 143 

water in 180 

Lavas, porosity of 126 

Lava Spring, Ariz., description of — 153 

Leaden, Tom, work of 168, 169 

Lee, C. H., on evaporation 128 

Lee Ferry, Ariz., springs near 158 

Leroux Wash, Ariz., character of 93 

name of 34 

wells in 163, 186 



214 



INDEX. 



Page. 

Leupp, Ariz., filling at 160 

storage at 111-112 

wells at 172-173, 188 

depth to water in__ 130, 173, 188 

Lightning, prevalence of 63, 74 

Limestone, wells in . 174 

Literature, lists of 199-208 

Lithodendron Wash, Ariz., character 

of 35,9a 

name of 34 

Little Colorado River, description 

of 43,86,93 

discharge of 86 

evaporation in 98 

falls on 43 

view of 41 

fluctuations in 101-102 

irrigation from 105-106,107 

silt in 108 

valley of, filling in 160 

precipitation in 59, 60, 95 

vegetation in 72 

wells in___ 162-163,170-171 

view of 110 

water holes along 119 

wells on, depth of water in 130 

Tiizard Spring, Ariz., description 

of 141, 151 

Loew, Oscar, explorations by 20 

on soils 70 

Lohali, Ariz., springs near 152, 155 

Lokasakad, Ariz., springs at and 

near 140, 153-154 

storage at 112 

Lokasakal Spring, description of 155 

Los Gigantes Buttes, Ariz., spring 

near 152 

Lower Crossing Spring, Utah, de- 
scription of 157 

Lukachukai Creek, Ariz., description 

of 29,35,36,90,94 

irrigation from 105 

spring on 150 

Luckachukai Mountains, Ariz., lakes 

in 117 

Lyon Ranch, Ariz., springs at 144, 145 



M. 



McComb, J. N., explorations by 19 

McElmo formation, character of 79-80 

porosity of 126 

McKinley County Oil Co.'s well, N. 

Mex., section showing- 181 

Maddox, Ariz., springs at and near — 137, 

140, 153 

Maito Spring, Ariz., desci'iption of 152 

Mai Pais Spring, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 153 

Mancos shale, character of 80 

deposition of 83 

porosity of 126 

springs from 138 

well in 174 

Manila, Ariz., well at 188 

Manuelito, N. Mex., well at 184 



Page. 
Manuelito Plateau, Ariz.-N. Mex., de- 
scription of 26 

mining on 26 

precipitation on 95 

springs on 148, 151 

wells on 184-185 

Manuelito Spring, N. Mex., descrip- 
tion of 149 

Map In pocket. 

Map, forest, of area 74 

Map, index, of area 14 

Map, geologic, of area In pocket. 

Maps, base, use of 15 

Marcou, Jules, geologic exploration 

by 19 

Marsh Pass, flow at 8T 

storage near 112 

view at 47 

Martys Spring, description of 154 

Marvine, A. R., exploration by 20 

Mason Spring, description of 153 

Matthews Peak, Ariz., spring near — 150f 

Meinzer, O. E., on water table 163 

Mesaverde formation, coal in 80 

porosity of 126 

springs from 138 

water In 178, 180, 182 

wells in 174 

Mexican Water, Ariz., spring near — 152 

well at 185 

Midget Mesa, N. Mex,, spring near. 149 

Minerals, distribution of ^ 75 

Mishongnovi, Ariz., well near 186 

Missionaries, explorations by 15-18 

Mission Spring, Ariz., description of 149 

Mitten Butte, Ariz., view of 48 

Mitten Rock, N. Mex., spring near_ 150 
Moa Ave Spring, Ariz., description 

of 144-146, 156 

Moenkopi, Ariz., irrigation at 88 

Moenkopi Creek, Ariz., description 

of 42,87-88,94 

discharge of 88,100 

effect of wind-blown sands on — 101 

irrigation fvom 106 

Moenkopi formation, character of — 79 

porosity of 125 

water from 182, 183 

quality of 131, 139 

well in 174 

Moenkopi Plateau, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of , 39-40 

precipitation on 95 

soil on 98 

springs on 148, 156 

view o^ 40 

Moenkopi Wash, Ariz., description 

of 40.94 

irrigation in 109 

springs in 144, 146-147 

Moki, meaning and use of 37 

Monument Canyon, Ariz,, spring in_ 152 
Monument Creek, Utah, description 

of 94 

Monument Point, Ariz., wells near 186- 

187 



INDEX. 



215 



Page. 
Monument Valley, Utah-Ariz., ar- 
tesian water in 182 

description of 48-49 

precipitation on 95 

section of, figure showing 180 

springs in 148, 157 

storage in 113 

structure on 81, 82 

views in 48 

wells in 164, 188 

Moonlight Creek, Utah-Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 87, 94 

Mud Spring, N. Mex., description of_ 149 
Muencovi Spring, Ariz., description 

of 154 

Mulch, natural, effect of 128 

Murphy, M. M., aid of 147 

Myrick Corral Spring, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 153 



N. 



Names, adoption of, rules for 15,189 

spelling of 14, 189-197 

aid in 11 

Nasja Bridge, Utah, view of 46 

Natural bridge. See Rainbow 
Bridge ; Owl Bridge. 

Navajo Church, N. Mex., well at 184 

Navajo cornfield, view of 100 

Navajo country, geology of, map 

of In pocket 

map of In pocket 

Navajo Creek, Ariz., description of_ 87, 94 
Navajo Mountain, Utah-Ariz., ani- 
mals on 75 

description of 45-47 

forests on 74 

precipitation on 95 

springs on 148, 157 

storage on 113 

vegetation on 47, 73, 74, 99 

view from 46 

Navajos, character of 11, 76-77 

irrigation by 104 

irrigation needs of 103 

language of 189* 

number of 76, 103 

Navajo sandstone, character of 79 

springs from 138, 142-147 

water in 174 

Navajo Springs, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 158 

Nazlini Creek, Ariz., description of_ 36, 

90,94 

irrigation from 105 

springs on 152 

Newberry, J. S., geologic explora- 
tion by 19, 38 

Newberry Mesa, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 38, 39 

Nikehoshi Springs, N. Mex., nature 

of i41, 150 

Niza, Marcos de, explorations by 16 

Nokai Creek, Ariz.-Utah, descrip- 
tion of 48, 87, 94 



Page. 

Notatasaca Spring, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 153 

Nottahandelit Spring, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 155 



O. 



Oak Spring, Ariz., nature of 136, 151 

storage at 33 

Oil, occurrence of 24, 32, 75, 

Ojo Azufre, N. Mex., description of- 149 
Onion Springs, Ariz., description of_ 155 

spring near 156 

Onaibi, Ariz., springs at and near_ 154, 

155, 156 

wells near 186,187 

Oraibi Butte, Ariz., spring near 155 

Oraibi Wash, Ariz., description 39, 

94, 164-165 

filling in 160, 165 

fluctuations of 101 

section in 165 

spring in 155 

wells in 163-166, 177, 186-187 

sections of, figures show- 

iug 164 

Owl Bridge, Utah, view of 46 



Padilla, Juan de, explorations by 16, 39 

Padilla Mesa, Ariz., spring near 154 

Painted Desert, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 42-43 

drainage of 43 

name of 43 

precipitation in 95 

springs on 148> 158 

temperature in 97 

wells on 188 

depth to water in 130, 188 

Palisade Creek, Ariz., description 

of 29,90,94 

Paquette, Peter, aid of 10 

Pastora Peak, Ariz., springs near 158 

Pennsylvanian rocks, occurrence and 

character of 78 

porosity of 125 

Peridots, occurrence of 75 

Peruvian rocks, deposition of 82 

occurrence and character of 78-79 

porosity of 125 

Pine, yellow, zone of 72-74 

Piiion, zone of 72, 73 

zone of, view in 69 

Pintado Spring, N. Mex., descrip- 
tion of 149 

Piute Canyon, Ariz., N. Mex., flow 

in 87, 94 

irrigation in 105 

springs in 142, 157 

view of 69 

Piutes, character of 11 

number of 103 

Pogue, J. E., work of 10-11 

Polacca, Ariz., wells near . 164 



216 



INDEX, 



Page. 

Population, statistics of 76, 103 

Porosity of rocks, differences in 125 

Pre-Cambrian rocks, deposition of 82 

occurrence and cliaracter of 78, 82 

Precipitation, cliaracter of 63 

distribution of, in time 96-97 

effect of, on stream flow 95-97 

geographic distribution 59-60 

ground water supplied by 123-124 

mean annual amount of 96, 123 

records of 50-59 

variation in, annually 60-61,97 

daily, chart showing 62 

seasonally 61-63, 96-97 

Preston Mesa, Ariz., pools near 156 

Prudden, T. M., on use of metals 75 

Pueblo Bonita, N. Mex., springs near_ 149 

wells at and near 184 

wells at and near, sections 

showing 181 

Pueblo Colorado Wash, Ariz., de- 
scription of___ 37, 89, 93, 102 

fluctuations of 101, 102 

silt of 108 

wells in 161-162 

vegetation in 72 

view of 37 

water wasted on 104 

wells in 186 

depth to water in 130, 186 

See also Chinle and Pueblo Colo- 
rado Valleys. 
Puerco River, N. Mex., description 

of 86, 93 

valley of, filling in 160 

precipitation in 95 

wells in 162 

Pumps, character of 172—173 

figure showing 172 

Pyramid Butte, Ariz., spring near 153 

Pyramid Rock, N. Mex., spring near_ 149 



Q. 



Quartzite Canyon, Ariz., spring in 151 

storage in 112 

Quaternary deposits, occurrence and 

character of 80 

Quicksand, difficulty with 167, 168 



R. 



Railroad, transcontinental, explora- 
tions for 18 

Rainbow Natural Bridge, Utah., de- 
scription of 45 

view of 46 

Rainbow Plateau, Utah-Ariz., de- 
scription of 44-45 

natural bridge at 45 

precipitation on 95 

soil of 98 

springs on 148, 157 

view on 68 

water supply on 45 



Page. 

Rainfall, character of 63, 97 

direct utilization of 119-122 

percolation of, to ground wa- 
ters 123-124, 126-127 

daily distribution of, chart 

showing 62 

/See also Precipitation. 
Red Lake, N. Mex., description 

of 94, 118, 119 

reservoir at 33, 109 

views of 33, 110 

Red Rock, N. Mex., springs near 149, 150 

Red Rock Valley, Ariz.-N, Mex., de- 
scription of . 25 

irrigation in 25 

water supply of 92 

Red Wash, Ariz.-N. Mex., description 

of 94 

spring in 150 

Relief, nature of 21-22 

Reservations, area of 13, 14 

location of 13 

map showing 14 

subdivisions of 13 

Reservoir Canyon, Ariz., burial of_ 101, 109 

burial of, view of 101 

springs in 144-147, 156 

storage in 109 

Reservoirs, possible sites for 111—113 

See also Tanks. 
Reservoir, government, description 

of— 109-111 

Reservoirs, ground - water. See 
Ground - water reser- 
voir. 

Rio Chaco, N. Mex., description of 94 

Ritter, Rollin, on silt 108 

Roads, character of 12, 13 

Robinson, H. P., work of_ 10, 108-112, 144 
Rock House Spring, N. Mex., descrip- 
tion of 149 

Rocks, plant food in 69 

porosity of 125 

Rock Spring, N. Mex., description of_ 26, 151 

Rock strata, springs between 137-142 

springs between, improvement 

of 141-142 

figure showing 141 

water in 173-174 

Roof Butte, Ariz., spring at 151 

Round Rock, Ariz., springs near — 152, 153 



S. 



Sahito, Ariz., wells at 175 

Sagebrush, zone of 72 

Sahotsoidbeazhe Canyon, Ariz., 

spring in 152 

St. Joseph, Ariz,, irrigation at 105 

wells at 162,188 

St. Michaels, Ariz., artesian water 

at 176-177 

artesian water at, figure show- 
ing 177 

description of 33 



INDEX. 



217 



Page. 
St. Michaels, Ariz., precipitation 

at 50-51, 59, 95 

springs at 133-134 

view of 111 

temperature at 64-67 

wells at and near 176-177, 185 

wind at 68 

St. Michael Spring, description of — 151 

Salt Spring, description of 155 

San Antonio Spring, description of 149 

Sand, lakes due to 117-118 

stream obstruction by 92, 100-101 

Sand Cone spring, description of 152 

Sand dunes, building and effects 

of 92, 100-101 

view of 40, 101 

Sandstone, wells in 174 

Sand storms, occurrence of 67—68 

San Jose Valley, wells in 184 

San Juan River, character of_ 32, 85, 87, 94 

discharge of 85,94 

fluctuations in 101-102 

water power on 116 

San Juan Valley, description of 31-32 

mineral resources of 32 

precipitation in 59, 95—96 

temperature in 97 

views in 31, 32 

wells in 171, 182 

Santa Fe Railway, wells of 168-169, 

170, 183 

Satan Pass, N. Mex., spring in 149 

Schools, access to 12 

Schrader, F. C, geologic exploration 

by 20 

Sebito Wash, Ariz., well in 185 

Second Mesa Wash, description of 39, 94 

Seeps, evaporation from 129 

Segetoa Spring, description of 151 

Segi Canyon, Ariz., spring in ' 157 

Segihatsosi Canyon, springs in 134, 157 

storage in 112-113 

Segi Mesas, Ariz.-Utah, description 

of 47-48 

precipitation on 95 

ruins at , 48 

soil on 98 

springs on 148, 157 

water supply of 48 

Sehili, Ariz,, irrigation at 106 

Seklagaideza Canyon, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 31 

Senatoa Springs, Ariz., description 

of 154 

Sethlekai Spring, description of 157 

Setsiltso Spring, Ariz., description 

of 152 

Seven Lakes, oil at 24, 75 

Shaler, M. K., geologic exploration 

by 20 

Shales, wells in 174 

Shato Canyon, Ariz., springs in 157 

Shato Plateau, Ariz., description of- 43-44 

di'ainage from 44 

precipitation on 95 

springs on 148, 157 

storage on 113 

Shato Spring, Ariz., description of- 43, 157 



Page. 
Sheep Dip Creek, Ariz., description 

of 35,91 

Sheep Spring, N. Mex., description of_ 149 

spring near 140 

Shinarump conglomerate, character 

of . 79 

deposition of 82 

porosity of 125 

springs from 138 

water in 180-182 

wells in 174, 175 

Shipolovi, Ariz., spring near - 155 

well near 187 

Shiprock, N. Mex., agency at 26 

description of 25 

irrigation at 105 

springs near 149, 150 

views of . 26, 31 

Shongopovi, Ariz., spring at 155 

well near 186 

Silt, difliculty in disposing of 108 

Simpson Creek, Ariz.-N. Mex., de- 
scription of 28-29, 91, 94 

name of 28 

on vegetation 71 

Sitgreaves, L., railroad mapped by 18 

Smith Butte, Ariz., springs near 153 

Smith Spring, Ariz., description of 153 

Snowfall, ground-water supply from. 123 

records of ■.— 49 

See also Precipitation. 

Soils, character of 68-71 

derivation of 69-70 

effect of, on stream flow 98-99 

evaporation from 128-129 

views of 100 

Solomy Spring, Ariz., description of_ 155 
Sonsela Springs, Ariz., description 

of 151 

Spanish, explorations by 15-18 

Springs, character of 133 

evaporation from 129 

number and distribution of 132-133 

records of 147-158 

source of 133-143 

See also Kariz ; Unconsolidated 
deposits ; Bedrock ; 

Rock strata. • 

Spruce, Engelmann, zone of 73 

Spruce Brook, Ariz., description of 29, 

90,94 

irrigation from 106 

springs on 150 

Standing Redrock Creek, Ariz., de- 
scription of 25, 94 

irrigation from 107 

Steamboat Canyon, Ariz., springs 

in 138,154 

Steamboat Wash, Ariz., water holes 

in___: 119 

Stock raising, future of 77 

water storage for 103, 113-116 

conditions controlling 113 

See also Tanks. 

Storage, water, facilities for 107-109 

Stratigraphy, outline of 78-80 

section showing 78 



218 



INDEX. 



Page. 

Stream flow, factors influencing 95-101 

fluctuation in 101-102 

percolation from 127 

utilization of 102-113 

Streams, crossing of 12 ,102 

See also Waters, surface. 

Streams, ephemeral, origin of 92-93 

Structure, outline of 80-82 

sections showing 80 

Sulphur Spring, N. Mex., description 

of 149 

Sunrise Spring, Ariz., description 

of 137,152 

spring near 152 

Sunshine, records of 49-50 

Surface waters. See Waters, sur- 
face. 

T. 

Taboo, trouble from 12 

Tahchito Creek, Ariz,, description of_ 92 
Talahogan Springs, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 154 

spring near 154 

Tanks (for stock), construction of- 114-116 

literature concerning 116 

sites for 114 

Tanner Crossing, Ariz., description 

of 42 

springs near 158 

view at 110 

Tanner Spring, Ariz., nature of 136, 151 

Teadepatho Spring, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 155 

spring near 156 

Temperature, records of 63-67 

variations in, daily. 66-67 

Tertiary rocks, deposition of__ 83-84 

occurrence and character of 80 

porosity of — 126 

Tewa Spring, Ariz., description of — 155 
The Beast, N. Mex., description of — 32 

view of 33 

Tishepi Spring, Ariz., description of_ 154 

Tisnasbas, Ariz., well at 184 

Tisnasbas Creek, Ariz., description 

of 92,94 

irrigation from 105 

Tisnasbas Spring, Ariz., description 

of 149 

Toadlena Spring, N. Mex., descrip- 
tion of 150 

Todilto Park, N. Mex., location of 29 

spring at 150 

Todilto formation, character of 79 

Todokozk Spring (Chinle Valley), 

Ariz., description of 152 

Todokozk Spring (Defiance Plateau), 

Ariz., description of 151 

Todokozk Spring, Utah, description 

of 158 

Togoholtsoe Spring, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 155 

Tohachi, N. Mex., springs near 149, 150 

wells at 163, 169, 185 

Tohachi shale, character of 80 



Page. 
Tohadistoa Spring, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 155 

Tohasged Springs, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 153 

Tohasged Spring, N. Mex., descrip- 
tion of 149 

Tohonadla, Utah, irrigation at 107 

springs at 158 

Tolani Lakes, Ariz., description of_ 39, 117 

Tolchico, Ariz., wells at 162, 188 

Topography, effect of, on stream 

flow 100 

outline of 21-22 

Tovar, Pedro de, explorations by 16, 38 

Tovar Mesa, Ariz., description of 38, 39 

Travel, suggestions for 11-12 

Triassic rocks, deposition of 82-83 

occurrence and character of 79 

porosity of 12.5-126 

water from, quality of 131 

Trout Spring, Ariz., description of 152 

spring near 152 

Tseanatzi Creek, N. Mex., descrip- 
tion of 92 

irrigation from 106-107 

Tsehili, N. Mex., spring near 150 

Tuba, Ariz., cultivation at 42, 143 

description of 143-144 

map of 144 

precipitation at 50, 55, 59-62, 95 

rain water saved at 120 

springs at and near 143-147, 156 

improvement of 146-147 

maps showing 144, 145 

temperature at 64-67 

view near 101 

wind at 68 

Tucker Springs, nature of 138, 142, 158 

Tunitcha Mountain, Ariz., lakes 

in 117 

springs on 142 

Tunnel Springs, nature of 142-143, 151 

Tusayan Washes, description of 38-39 

evaporation in_ 128 . 

fluctuation in 101 

precipitation in 95, 165 

soil of-— 70 

springs in 148, 154 

temperature in 97 

water wasted in 104 

wells in 164-166, 170, 186-187 

depth to water in__ 130, 186-187 
sections of, figures show- 
ing 164 

Tuye Spring, Ariz., description of 154 

spring near 154, 156 

Tuye Spring, N. Mex., description 

of 149 

Twin Buttes, Ariz., spring near 153 

Tyende, Ariz., springs at and near 136, 

137, 155, 156 
Tyende Creek, description of_ 36-37, 87, 94 

flow of 87, 100 

irrigation from 106 

valley of, artesian water in 181 

Tyende Mesa, Ariz., spring near 157 



INDEX. 



219 



U. Page. 

Unconsolidated deposits, character 

of 160-161 

porosity of 126 

springs from 133-135 

water in 160-161 

wells in 160-173,177 

construction of 166-173 

location of 161-164 

Upper Crossing, Ariz., spring at 157 

view at 69 

V. 

Vaca, A. N. C. de, explorations by — 15 

Valley fill, depth of 160-161 

erosion of, effect of, on stream 

flow 100 

Valleys, high, wells in 163-164 

Vegetation, distribution and char- 
acter of 71-74 

effect of, on stream flow 99-100 

evaporation from 129 

relation of, to water table— 130-131 

Ventana Mesa, Ariz., spring near 152 

Vento Spring, Ariz., description of — 149 
View Point, Ariz., spring near 151 

W. 

Walker Creek, Ariz., description of — SI, 

90-91, 94 

name of 90 

Walpi, spring at 155 

view of 76 

wells near 186, 187 

Ward, L. F., geologic exploration by_ 20, 40 
War God Spring, Utah, description 

of 47, 134, 157 

Warner Wash, Ariz., springs in 158 

Washes, filling in 160-161 

stereogram showing 160 

water in 160-161 

wells in 161-162, 164-166 

Washington Pass, N. Max., location of 28 

spring near 151 

stream in 91 

view in 27 

Wasteways, construction of 116 

Water, lack of 71 

storage of. See Irrigation, 
storage. 

Water, ground, quality of 131 

source of 123-124 

See also Ground-water reser- 
voir ; Artesian water ; 
Springs ; Wells. 

Water, surface, description of 85-122 

Water catches, construction of 120-122 

figures showing 120, 121, 122 

Water holes, distribution of 119 

Water power, use of 116 

Water table, nature of 129-130 

position of 124,130 

figure showing 124 

relation of, to vegetation 130-131 



Page. 

Wells, character of 160-166, 173-176 

conditions concerning 159-160 

construction of 166-173 

importance of 159 

locating of ^ 161-164 

stereogram explaining 160 

records of 183-188 

water of, quality of 159-160 

See also Artesian wells ; Un- 
consolidated deposits ; Bed- 
rock. 

Wepo Spring, Ariz., description of — 155 
spring near 156 

Wepo Wash, Ariz., description of . 39, 94 

spring in 155 

wells in 166, 187 

section showing 164 

Wheatfields, Ariz., farming at 35-36 

reservoir at 109—110 

Wheatfields Creek, Ariz., description 

of 29,90,94 

irrigation from 105-106, 109-110 

Wheeler, G. M,, surveys by 20 

Whipple, A. W., on flora 71 

railroad mapped by 19 

Whiskey Creek, Ariz., description 

of 29, 90, 94 

White Cave Spring, Ariz., descrip- 
tion of 153,155 

spring near 154 

White Mesa, Ariz., springs on 157 

Whitmore Pools, Ariz., description 

of 156 

Wide Ruin, Ariz., description of 35 

Wide Ruin Wash, Ariz., description 

of 35,94,101 

irrigation from 105 

springs in 151 

water wasted on 104 

wells in 163, 164, 185 

Wildcat Peak, spring near 156 

Willow Springs, Ariz., description 

of 144, 145, 156 

Wilson's Peak. See Shiprock. 

Wind, character and occurrence of_ 67-68 

erosion by, views of 40, 68 

modification of stream flow by_ 100-101 
soil transported by— 68, 69, 100-101 

Wingate sandstone, character of 79 

springs from 138 

wells in 174 

Winslow, Ariz., irrigation near 106 

precipitation at 50, 54, 59-60 

spring near 158 

temperature at 97 



Y. 



Yucca, zone of- 



72 



Z. 



Ziditloi Mountain, location of 33 

view of 33 

Zillesa Mesa, Ariz., springs near 155, 156 

Ziltahjini Peak, Ariz., spring near — 156 
Zuui reservoir N. Mex., silt in 108 



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